The petitioner moved the top court after the Allahabad High Court rejected its petition. Tribune file photo
Satya Prakash
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, March 22
The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Center, secretary-generals of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, the Election Commission and the Attorney-General on a PIL challenging generous pension and allowances given to former legislators.
A Bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar decided to examine the issues raised in a PIL filed by Lok Prahari—an NGO—which wanted the top court to scrap pension and allowances, including lifetime free railway travel, given to former lawmakers.
The petitioner moved the top court after the Allahabad High Court rejected its petition.
The court issued notices to the respondents after petitioner’s counsel Kamini Jaiswal pointed out that there were no guidelines for pension and allowances given to former MPs and MLAs.
Government employees had to contribute to the pension fund for availing the post-retirement benefits while former lawmakers’ pension was paid from the consolidated fund of India, i.e., taxpayers’ money, Jaiswal argued.
Before issuing notice on the PIL, the Bench said: “We have seen an era when MPs after being in public life for long have died as paupers.” However, it noted that facilities and allowances must be reasonable and not arbitrary.
“Politics has become the most lucrative profession even for the scum of the society,” Lok Praharinotices General Secretary and a former bureaucrat SN Shukla had told the Bench on Tuesday.
Questioning the law made by Parliament permitting former lawmakers giving generous allowances, the petitioner NGO alleged that the pension and perks for them should be withdrawn.
“While the governors do not have the facility of pension at all, an MP even for a day and his spouse get pension for life. While even serving judges of the Supreme Court and high courts do not have the facility of free air/train travel for their spouses even on official tours, ex-MPs enjoy unlimited free train travel for life in AC-II with a companion 365 days a year,” the petitioner alleged.
An ex-MP becomes an unwarranted burden on the citizens, the NGO said, adding, it was not their birthright to fleece the public they no longer represented.