Chandigarh: Jailed Punjab MP Amritpal Singh has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking directions to the Centre, the Punjab government and other respondents to allow him to attend parliamentary proceedings.
In his petition, the Khadoor Sahib MP has 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.
He is currently lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh Jail under the National Security Act (NSA). In his petition, the MP has claimed that he has been denied his constitutional right as 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 unrepresented and further, to get his seat vacated after 60 days of absence, which will have serious consequences for him as well as for 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 has stated that on November 30 last year, he requested the Lok Sabha speaker to allow him 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 for permission to attend the Parliament's sessions but no response was received.
"An MP under preventive detention can 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, has also referred to a recent Delhi High Court order that granted parole to Baramulla MP Rashid Engineer to attend parliamentary proceedings.
