Parliament panel recommends 54-day leave of absence for Amritpal

Amritpal, who has been lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail since April 2023 under the National Security Act (NSA), submitted two requests to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for leave of absence on account of detention in prison. The first was made on November 30, 2024, and the second on December 16, 2024.

“The MP sought leave of absence from June 24 to July 2 (nine days), July 22 to August 9 (19 days) and November 25 to December 20 (26 days)," the Committee on Absence of Members from the Sittings of the House, chaired by BJP's Biplab Deb, said in its report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Earlier, Waris Punjan De chief and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal had, in his petition to the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking permission to attend Parliament, said he had submitted a request to the LS Speaker on November 30 for permission to attend the Parliament session and was then informed that he had already been absent for 46 days.

The MP argued that beyond 60 days of absence, he risked the vacancy of his Lok Sabha seat, a move that would leave the segment's 19 lakh people without a representative. The LS committee’s report, however, revealed that Amritpal had made an application for leave of absence on November 30.

Rashid's petition for custody parole junked

A Delhi court on Monday rejected Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid’s plea for custody parole to attend the Parliament session. Rashid has been in jail since 2019 in a case of alleged terror funding. Custody paroles are normally granted for emergencies. Meanwhile, the parliamentary committee on absence of MPs has recommended 19-day leave of absence for Rashid, who sought the same from July 22 to August 9, 2024, on account of detention in Tihar.

The panel’s report will be presented by the Centre before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which is hearing Amritpal’s petition on parliamentary attendance.

On the last date of hearing, Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain informed the high court that the Parliament panel would submit its recommendations to the Speaker on March 10 and until that was done, the panel's recommendations, being confidential, could not be revealed. The panel held its meeting on March 3 to consider the leave of absence of Amritpal and four other MPs. The Speaker will take the final call on the panel’s recommendation.

Other MPs whose leave was allowed by the panel include Engineer Rashid (in Tihar), late SK Nurul Islam (illness), Mala Roy (illness) and Deepak Adhikari (family event).