The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed Suresh Kalmadi's plea to attend the monsoon session of Parliament, saying there was no merit in it.
Mr. Kalmadi is a Congress MP from Pune and the prime accused in the Commonwealth Games scam case.
He had filed a revision petition against the order of a Single Bench dismissing his petition seeking permission to attend the session. The Bench had observed that allowing him to participate in the House proceedings would provide him a respite from imprisonment.
Dismissing the revision petition, a Division Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Sanjiv Khanna said the Court did not have the power to permit him to attend Parliament.
The Court on Monday said it would not go into the attendance record of the MP in Parliament or into his Constitutional right to attend Parliament sittings, as submitted by him in support of his plea.
It had further said that it was unable to understand how he could be permitted to attend the Parliament sitting when the court did not think it fit to release him on bail.
Mr. Kalmadi along with other accused is facing prosecution in connection with the case.
He is lodged in the Tihar Central Jail here after rejection of his bail application, first by a special court for CBI cases and later by the Delhi High Court.
Counsel for Mr. Kalmadi had argued that that attending the Parliament session was the Constitutional right of his client as well as his privilege.
He had also cited the sincerity of Mr. Kalmadi in attending Parliament sessions over the years by referring to his attendance record in the Lower House.
The investigating agency arrested him on May 25 and chargesheeted him and 10 others in the case.
