CHANDIGARH: The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday passed a Bill which will bar members of the House disqualified under the anti-defection law from drawing pension. The Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill, 2024, tabled in the House by chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, aims to discourage MLAs from defection. “A person shall not be entitled for pension under the Act, if he has been disqualified at any point of time under the tenth schedule of the Constitution (anti-defecation law),” Sukhu said while tabling the Bill, which includes provisions for recovery of pensions already drawn by disqualified MLAs.The statement of object and reasons of the proposed amendment states the bill was needed as “there was no provision in the 1971 Act to discourage the defection of members, deter them from committing constitutional sins, protect the mandate given by people and preserve democratic values.”As per section 6B of the Act every MLA who has served any period up to five years is entitled to pension of Rs 36,000 per month. The six former MLAs who will be impacted due to the Bill are Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar. They were disqualified in February this year under the anti-defection law. The MLAs had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections.The opposition BJP objected to the Bill stating that it smacks of “political revenge” and it cannot be implemented with retrospective effect. Replying to discussion on the Bill, CM Sukhu said, “Six Congress MLAs betrayed the Congress party and the Bill is aimed at strengthening the democratic values and deter the MLAs from defection.” Rakesh Jamwal (BJP) said the Bill has been brought in a haste and asked how it can be implemented retrospectively. CM: Salary on Sept 5, pension on Sept 10Sukhu defended late payment of salary and pension while announcing in the Assembly that salary will be disbursed on September 5 and pension on September 10. The main reason for deferring payment is that the government is mapping expenditure and receipts for utilisation of resources in a prudent manner.
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