New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday reserved its order on Congress MP and sacked CWG Organising Committee chief Suresh Kalmadi's plea seeking permission to attend the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament.
Kalmadi's plea was vehemently opposed by the CBI which said he was making all attempts to get bail indirectly as the trial court has rejected his bail plea.
"As per the medical report of Kalmadi, he is suffering from various ailments, including loss of memory and neurological infractions. If this is the condition of an MP, what will he remember from his constituency and present before Parliament?" Additional Solicitor General AS Chandihoke, appearing for the CBI, submitted referring to the medical report of Kalmadi.
Senior advocate Ashok Desai, appearing for Kalmadi, placed the MP's attendance record of past two years before a bench of Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and claimed the lawmaker has a satisfactory attendance of 80 to 100 per cent. He submitted that in 14th Lok Sabha, Kalmadi had asked 154 questions and in the present Lok Sabha so far he has asked 42 questions.
Clarifying that during the Commonwealth Games 2010, Kalmadi was unable to attend Parliament session, senior advocate Desai said. "I have a special duty to perform. These duties arises from the constitution."
"Under Article 105 of the Indian Constitution special rights and privileges have been given to parliamentarians and the fundamental rights under Article 19 are overridden by the provision made for the MPs," the lawyer argued seeking the court to strike a balance while permitting his client to attend Parliament session under judicial custody.
Opposing Kalmadi's plea, the Centre as well as the CBI said the rights of a Parliamentarian cannot be higher than that of an ordinary citizen who is under arrest.
The high court had on July 29 sought Kalmadi's attendance record in Parliament for the last five years while issuing a notice to the CBI and asking it to file its reply on his plea.
Kalmadi has moved the high court after withdrawing his plea from the trial court saying it is not the "competent court" for the same.
Earlier, Kalmadi had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar seeking her permission to attend the session of Parliament from August 1 to September 8. The Speaker, however, had said he would be able to attend Parliament only after the competent court's permission.
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