SC drops petition against PM's continuation in office

New Delhi, Nov 6: The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition challenging the continuation of Dr Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister.

The petitioner had contended that Dr Singh's term as a Rajya Sabha member had expired long back and he is presently not a member of either House of Parliament.

The petition, filed by Mr R S Sanwal, was dismissed by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice C K Thakker holding that the same was "totally misconceived".

According to the petitioner, the Rajya Sabha came into existence in 1952 and has a fixed term of six years for every member, according to which, the term of the Prime Minister came to an end in 2002.

''Since then, the PM has not been re-elected to the Rajya Sabha and the term of six months, within which the PM or a Minister has to get elected to either of the two Houses to continue in the post, has also expired,'' he claimed.

Incidentally, Dr Singh was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Asom in 2001 and his six-year term ends next year.

UNI