The Centre on Wednesday told the Punjab and Haryana high court that Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, who is jailed in Assam’s Dibrugarh, has been granted '54 days’ leave of absence' from the Lok Sabha. The leave has been approved by Parliamentary panel, which essentially means that there is no threat to his membership.

Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain told the High Court bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Sumeet Goel that the committee, which looks into such issues, has approved leave of four MPs, including Amritpal Singh, on Tuesday and the Lok Sabha secretariat has informed him about the approval of 54 days’ leave.  Jain also produced a copy of the letter before the court.

“In view of this, there is no threat to his membership,” Jain told the court.

Singh, who is currently detained in Assam under the National Security Act (NSA), had approached the court seeking permission to attend parliamentary proceedings, fearing that prolonged absence beyond 60 days could lead to his constituency being declared vacant.

During the hearing, the Division Bench noted that Singh’s concern had been addressed by a letter dated March 11 from the Lok Sabha Secretariat, granting him the leave of absence. “Since the petitioner’s apprehension regarding disqualification from Parliament due to absence stands alleviated, the relief sought is effectively satisfied,” the bench observed. Senior advocate Anupam Gupta appeared for the State of Punjab, while senior advocate R.S. Bains represented Singh. Bains had informed the High Court that the legislator had remained absent for 54 days and only six days remained for his seat to be declared vacant on grounds of unauthorised absence.

Earlier, the Union government had informed the High Court that a 15-member parliamentary committee, led by BJP member Biplab Kumar Deb, had been constituted by the Lok Sabha Speaker to examine leave applications of all absent Members of Parliament, including jailed Amritpal Singh, from the ongoing Parliament session.

In his first electoral contest, Amritpal Singh, head of 'Waris Punjab De', won the Khadoor Sahib seat by 1,97,120 votes over his nearest rival, Congress candidate Kulbir Singh Zira.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Dheeraj Jain, another counsel in the case, said that in view of this Amritpal Singh has withdrawn his petition to pursue his second demand of allowing him to attend Parliament before the authorities.