High court notice to Chautalas, govt seeks stoppage of pension

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought response from the Haryana government and former Haryana chief minister Om Parkash Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and two other former MLAs on a bunch of public interest litigations (PILs), seeking stoppage of their pensions, on account of their conviction under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 1988.

The high court bench of justice SS Saron and justice Hari Pal Verma has sought response by October 2016 on the PILs from Vidhan Sabha Secretary and former MLAs Satbir Singh Kadian and Sher Singh Badshami.

The court was told that all these ex-MLAs were convicted under the PCA and sentenced to imprisonment ranging between 7 to 10 years. “They, therefore, stand disqualified under the provisions of Section 8 of the Representation of Peoples Act (RPA), from the date of their conviction, for the period for which they have been sentenced to imprisonment, plus six years more from the future date of their release from prison,” the court was told.

As per the petitioner, all these former MLAs were not entitled to draw pension till 2029.The court was told that under the Haryana Legislative Assembly (Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members) Act, no pension shall be admissible under to a member in respect of the term and during the period for which he is disqualified under the Representation of the People Act. The court was urged to order a stay on the pension being released to these former MLAs, pending the matter before HC.

The petitioner had filed a PIL earlier also. The matter was sent by the high court to the government. Thereupon, the Vidhan Sabha secretary had passed an order on August 22, holding that Chautalas were not disqualified under the RPA, nor the RPA provides for stoppage of pension.

Om Parkash Chautala gets a monthly pension of `2.15 lakh, Kadian `1.25 lakh, Ajay Chautala and Badshami `50,000 each.