The North News
Chandigarh, February 12
The Punjab and Haryana High Court was informed on Wednesday that there was no provision in the Lok Sabha rules that allows an MP to attend the session through virtual mode.During the hearing on a petition filed by jailed Khadoor Sahib MP from Punjab, Amritpal Singh, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of India Satya Pal Jain, who appeared on behalf of the Lok Sabha speaker and the Union of India, told the court that there was no provision under the rules and conduct of business in Lok Sabha for any MP to participate through virtual mode.
Jain submitted that the constitutional requirements mandate the physical presence of MPs in the House.
His submission came during the hearing on the plea of Amritpal Singh, who has challenged the Punjab government’s order declining his application for temporary release to attend the ongoing Budget session of Parliament.
Amritpal (33) is currently lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA).
Jain made his submission after the division bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu asked whether an MP can attend the session virtually.
The ASG further submitted that the Lok Sabha Secretariat wrote to Amritpal Singh on February 9, saying that so far as detained MPs are concerned, permission to them has to be granted by the detaining authority to attend the session.
The Lok Sabha has no role in it, the ASG submitted.
It was also mentioned in the letter that Amritpal has remained absent from the House for 37 days.
Jain said if an MP remains absent for 60 days then the seat can be declared vacant.
However, a designated committee of the Lok Sabha can condone the absence. If the MP wishes, he can apply for condonation that will be considered on merits, said Jain.
Amritpal had earlier moved the high court, seeking parole to attend the Budget session of Parliament.
The court last month had directed the Punjab government to decide within seven working days the representation of Amritpal, seeking temporary release to attend the Budget session.
Later, the Punjab government declined Amritpal’s application for temporary release to attend the session, citing “serious threat to the security of the state and the maintenance of public order”.
The Budget session commenced on January 28 and will continue till February 13 in the first phase. The second phase will take place from March 9 to April 2.
According to the plea, Amritpal wanted to highlight various matters, including the 2025 floods in Punjab, the alleged rampant rise of drug abuse in the state and developmental issues of his Khadoor Sahib constituency in Parliament.
He had earlier also sought to attend the Winter session of Parliament. However, his plea became infructuous as the arguments in the matter remained inconclusive by the time the session concluded.
Amritpal is the chief of the Waris Punjab De group who styled himself after slain Khalistani militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. He was arrested in Moga’s Rode village on April 23, 2023, following a manhunt for over a month.
The Khalistani sympathiser escaped the police net in Jalandhar district on March 18, 2023, switching vehicles and changing appearances.
The Punjab Police launched the crackdown after the February 23, 2023, Ajnala incident in which Singh and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, allegedly broke through barricades and barged into a police station on the outskirts of Amritsar city, and clashed with the police for the release of his aides.
Singh fought the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as an independent and won from Khadoor Sahib.
His detention was extended under the NSA in April 2025, even as his nine associates, who were also detained in the Assam jail, were brought back to Punjab. These nine associates were arrested in connection with the 2023 Ajnala police station attack incident.
With PTI inputs
