India News | Amritpal Singh's Plea in HC: Panel on Leaves for MPs Constituted, Court Informed
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Punjab and Haryana High Court was on Tuesday informed that a committee on "absence of members from the sittings of the House" has been constituted which will go through the applications of the members including Amritpal Singh.
Chandigarh, Feb 25 (PTI) The Punjab and Haryana High Court was on Tuesday informed that a committee on "absence of members from the sittings of the House" has been constituted which will go through the applications of the members including Amritpal Singh.
Biplab Kumar Deb, the MP from West Tripura and a former chief minister of the state, is the chairperson of the 14-member committee nominated by the Lok Sabha Speaker with effect from February 24.
The high court was informed about the constitution of the committee during a resumed hearing on a petition of jailed Punjab MP Amritpal Singh, who had recently moved the court, seeking directions to the Centre, the Punjab government and other respondents to allow him to attend parliamentary proceedings.
Singh is currently lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh Jail under the National Security Act (NSA).
Additional Solicitor General Satya Pal Jain, accompanied by advocate Dheeraj Jain, informed a bench of High Court Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel that the committee headed by Deb was constituted on February 24.
Speaking to mediapersons after the hearing, Dheeraj Jain, who along with Satya Pal Jain represented the Lok Sabha Secretariat in Tuesday's hearing, said the high court had sought information from the Union government to inform whether the committee for granting leave to Lok Sabha MPs from attending sessions of the House has been constituted.
"We have told the high court that a 14-member committee has been constituted under MP Biplab Kumar Deb. All applications of 'leave of absence' of the members of Parliament, including Khadoor Sahib MP and the petitioner Amritpal Singh, shall be considered by the committee, which will examine these and give recommendations to the House. After this, the Lok Sabha will take a decision on these applications," Jain said.
Amritpal's counsel, R S Bains, could not appear before the court and sought time for arguments. The court adjourned the matter to next week.
In his petition before the high court, Amritpal Singh had submitted that even a member of Parliament under preventive detention has a right to attend the House sessions according to the Constitution.
Singh, who contested last year's parliamentary polls as an independent candidate, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Punjab's Khadoor Sahib.
Singh, in his petition, claimed that he had been denied his constitutional right.
He said due to his preventive detention, he has been forced to remain absent from parliamentary proceedings with a malicious intent to get his Lok Sabha constituency go unrepresented and further, to get his seat vacated after 60 days of absence.
He said if that happens, it will have serious consequences for him as well as his constituency of nearly 19 lakh people.
An MP loses his membership of Parliament if he is continuously absent from its sessions for 60 days in terms of Article 101 of the Constitution, Singh has contended.
The petitioner said on November 30 last year, he requested the Lok Sabha Speaker to allow him to attend the sessions of Parliament.
"That in response, the petitioner was informed that he had been absent for a total of 46 days from parliamentary sittings," he has stated.
Singh has said in his petition that he gave a representation to the deputy commissioner, requesting permission to attend the Parliament's sessions but no response was received.
"An MP under preventive detention has the right to attend Parliament's sessions. This is because parliamentary privileges and duties take precedence over detention in non-criminal (preventive) cases. The detaining authority must make arrangements for the MP to attend Parliament if it is in session," he has contended.
The Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha can issue a production order to ensure the presence of the detained MP in the House, he has added.
Once such an order is issued, the detaining authority is legally obligated to bring the MP to Parliament, the petitioner has submitted.
Singh, who hails from Amritsar, had also referred to a recent Delhi High Court order that allowed a two-day custody parole to jailed Jammu and Kashmir MP Rashid Engineer to attend the Parliament session.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)