‘Only House can decide pension for ex-MPs’

Parliament alone can decide who is entitled to pensions and what the quantum of pensions is, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday.

The remarks to his Rajya Sabha colleagues come close on the heels of a comment made in the Supreme Court that 80% former lawmakers are ‘crorepatis’ (millionaires).

Responding to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who sought to know how it had been inferred that most of the former MPs were millionaires, Jaitley said, “It is the exclusive domain of Parliament” to decide who is entitled to government pension and how much.

“It is unquestionably a clear constitutional position that public money can only be spent with the authority of Parliament and, therefore, Parliament is the one and only authority that determines how public funds are to be spent. This is an authority of Parliament. No other institution can really exercise that power,” Jaitley said.

The Supreme Court had on Tuesday reportedly said the pension and perks to MPs seemed ‘prima facie’ unreasonable and had sought responses from the Centre and the Election Commission of India on a plea seeking the scrapping of pension and other perks being given to members of Parliament.