A parliamentary committee responsible for reviewing leave requests from Lok Sabha MPs has recommended granting a 54-day leave of absence to Punjab MP Amritpal Singh, who is currently detained under the National Security Act (NSA).
The recommendation is based on two applications submitted by Amritpal in the past.
Amritpal, the Waris Punjab De chief and MP from Khadoor Sahib, has been in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail since April 2023 under NSA charges. He submitted two leave requests to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, citing his detention as the reason. The first request was made on November 30, 2024, and the second on December 16, 2024.
The parliamentary report stated that Amritpal sought leave for three periods: June 24 to July 2 (9 days), July 22 to August 9 (19 days), and November 25 to December 20 (26 days).
In his petition to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Amritpal argued that his absence from Parliament could lead to the loss of his Lok Sabha seat, as an MP who remains absent for more than 60 days without permission risks disqualification.
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He stated that this would leave his constituency’s 19 lakh people without representation. The committee’s report, however, confirmed that Amritpal had officially applied for leave on November 30, 2024.
The panel’s findings will be presented before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which is hearing Amritpal’s case regarding his attendance in Parliament.
During the last hearing, Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain informed the court that the parliamentary panel would submit its recommendations to the Lok Sabha Speaker on March 10, and until that process was complete, the recommendations would remain confidential.
The panel convened on March 3 to evaluate leave requests from Amritpal and four other MPs. The final decision on whether to approve the leave rests with the Lok Sabha Speaker.
Other MPs whose leave requests were approved by the panel include Engineer Rashid, who is detained in Tihar Jail; late SK Nurul Islam, who was unwell; Mala Roy, who was granted leave for health reasons; and Deepak Adhikari, who applied for leave due to a family event.
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