Supreme Court of India
The Centre Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it has “given up” on the plan to set up an independent mechanism to fix salaries and allowances of Members of Parliament (MPs), while “justifying” the entitlement of former MPs to get pension and other benefits after they complete their tenure as parliamentarians.
Attorney General K K Venugopal told a bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar and S K Kaul that putting in place such an independent mechanism — to fix salaries and allowances of MPs — would lead to demands for similar mechanisms for other constitutional functionaries too, which may create complications.
“That has been given up and Finance Bill (2018) has been substituted,” the Attorney General told in response to a specific query on a petition by NGO Lok Prahari challenging the payment of pension to former MP’s and their families. The bench has reserved its order on the petition.
The Finance Bill-2018 proposes to revise the salaries and pension of MPs through amendments to the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954. The salary hike for MPs, a long-standing demand of parliamentarians, will be rolled out with effect from April 1, 2018, as per the Finance Bill, if the changes are approved.
For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App
