Supreme Court refuses to interfere with life-long pension to MPs, dismisses PIL seeking to scrap it

The Supreme Court, on Monday, dismissed a PIL questioning life-long pension to MPs, saying it cannot interfere with the pension and perks to sitting and former MPs, according to CNN-News18.

The Lok Prahari, a Lucknow-based NGO, had appealed against a Allahabad High Court decision, where the high court had also steered clear of the policy matter asserting that it lies within the domain of the executive. Subsequently, the Supreme court had asked Attorney-General KK Venugopal to appear before it and explain why MPs should be provided with life-long pension. Justifying the life-long pension to MPs, the AG had said that MPs lead a public life even after they retire from their post as they are required to visit their constituencies and travel to other constituencies due to their political life. [caption id=“attachment_4424463” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Supreme Court. Reuters[/caption] Defending other perks to the MPs, the Centre said that only the Parliament and executive could take a decision on the matter. It added that there was no unnecessary burden on the public exchequer owing to the pension to MPs and if the Supreme Court chose to in the matter, it would open a pandora’s box where salaries to all MLAs and perks to other legislators could also be questioned. Noting these submissions, the apex court dismissed the PIL. In March, the Supreme Court had reserved its verdict on the plea seeking to scrap the life-long pension to former members of Parliament. The petition by the NGO Lok Prahari had said 82 percent of the lawmakers were “crorepatis” and “the poor tax payers should not be made to bear the burden of their pension, including their family pension”. With inputs from IANS