Month on, Gov yet to give nod to Bill for single pension to MLAs

Sources in the government said that it was waiting for the Governor to send the Bill back and they cannot do anything as it is a money Bill. It is up to the Governor to take a call. “He has neither assented to it nor has he returned it with objections. It means he will be giving his assent. We are hopeful. But he has assented to the Bill related to Rural Development Fund (RDF) which was also notified as an Act. The Pensions Bill is still awaited,” said a functionary of the government.

Another functionary said that it does not look normal. “Earlier, he had returned the ordinance. That time it made sense as budget session was around the corner. But now he has not even sent the Bill back. We will wait for a few days before we think what to do further.”

The delay in the assent caused a loss of few crores to the state exchequer as the ex-MLAs were able to get multiple pensions for the months of May, June and July too. Now if the Governor gives his assent to it, the Act will be notified later.

The former legislators in Punjab get pensions for supplementary terms too. By limiting the pension, the government would save Rs 19.53 crore for the state exchequer.

Once the Act is in place, every legislator would get only one pension of Rs 75,150 per month, irrespective of the terms for which he gets elected. Earlier, some former legislators were getting  pension of as much as Rs 3 lakh per month. The fat pension of MLAs was frowned upon in the state.

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After taking the reins of the state, the CM had stated that the legislators would now get only one pension. For enforcing this rule, the government had amended Clause 3(1) of ‘The Punjab State Legislature Members (Pension and Medical Facilities Regulation) Act, 1977’.

The legislators in Punjab get a basic pension of Rs 15,000 per month. On this, they get 50 per cent DP (a merger of DA and basic pension effected on April 1, 2004), and a DA of 234 per cent. Similarly, for every supplementary term, they get Rs 10,000 basic pension, and DP and DA. The DA of 234 per cent was however not enhanced after December 31, 2016 onwards as Congress government led by Amarinder Singh had also decided not to enhance it further.

However, when an ex-MLA will attain the age of 65, 75 and 80, he/she shall, respectively, be entitled to an increase of 5 per cent, 10 per cent and 15 per cent of the basic pension, admissible to him/her at the attainment of such age.