Centre forms panel to review absentee MPs; Amritpal Singh’s plea deferred

New Delhi: The Centre has informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that a 15-member committee has been constituted by the Lok Sabha Speaker to review leave applications of MPs absent from Parliament. The panel is chaired by former Tripura Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha member Biplab Kumar Deb.

During a hearing on a petition filed by Amritpal Singh, Additional Solicitor General Satya Pal Jain and Advocate Dheeraj Jain told a bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumit Goel that the committee was formed yesterday and will review cases of all absentee MPs.

Amritpal Singh, MP from Khadoor Sahib and president of Waris Punjab De, has sought permission to attend the Parliament session, arguing that his prolonged absence violates his constitutional rights and deprives his constituency of representation.

Currently lodged in Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA), he stated that he had applied to the Lok Sabha Speaker on November 30, 2023, but was informed that he had already been absent for 46 days. He later wrote to the Deputy Commissioner but received no response, prompting him to seek judicial intervention.

As Amritpal’s lawyer R.S. Bains was unable to appear, the court recorded the Centre’s statement and scheduled the next hearing for next week.