Mallya attended Parliament on March 1, left country a day later

Has not informed Rajya Sabha secretariat about his whereabouts or that he would be leaving country

Industrialist Vijay Mallya was milling around fellow members of Parliament (MP) barely a day before he left Indian shores on March 2.

Mallya, an Independent member of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, was in Parliament on March 1, the only day of the ongoing Budget session that he has attended since it began on February 23.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Mallya left India the next day when the public sector banks to which he owes about Rs 9,000 crore, moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal against him.

According to his attendance record, Mallya attended Parliament — which means that he signed the attendance register — on March 1. Mallya is a second-term member, having served in the Rajya Sabha from 2002 to 2008 and elected again in mid-2010.

According to sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat, Mallya has not informed about his whereabouts or that he would be leaving India. A Rajya Sabha official said it isn’t mandatory for members to inform the House chairperson if they are travelling abroad.

However, an MP can lose membership of House if absent for a consecutive 60 days from sittings. The 60 days do not include holidays, weekends, inter-session breaks or even mid-session recess but the actual number of sittings of the House.

A member on long leave, which is mostly due to hospitalisation or sickness, needs to inform the Rajya Sabha chairperson, who then asks the House whether the leave should be granted.

This will not be of consequence in Mallya’s case, since his six-year term ends on June 30. In his second term, Mallya’s attendance has been 30 per cent against the average of 78 per cent. He did not participate in even a single debate since 2010, while the average participation of other MPs is 57. He asked 216 questions during his second term, when the average for other MPs was 312 questions.

Mallya, like other MPs, has been drawing salary and allowances per month of Rs 1.4 lakh. This includes salary of Rs 50,000, constituency allowance of Rs 45,000, office expenses of Rs 15,000, and secretarial allowance of Rs 30,000.

Apart from this, an MP gets an allowance of Rs 2,000 for every day that she or he attends the session. Mallya did not claim any travel and dearness allowances in 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16.