NEW DELHI, Sept 4: In an unprecedented move, the Himachal Pradesh state Assembly on Wednesday passed a legislation debarring the MLAs who defect to other parties from getting any pension.
The bill seeking to stop pension for MLAs who defect was moved in the assembly on Tuesday. This is applicable to MLAs who have been disqualified under the anti-defection law. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu introduced the bill, titled the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill 2024.
“A person shall not be entitled to a pension under the Act if they have been disqualified at any point under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution,” the bill states, referring to the anti-defection law. Six Congress MLAs — Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar — were disqualified in February this year under the anti-defection law for defying a party whip by abstaining from the house during the passing of the Budget for 2024-25 and discussions on a cut motion.
Sudhir Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal later returned to the house after winning bypolls on BJP ticket but the four others lost their re-election bid. These six Congress MLAs had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha election in February.
Mr Sukhu describing the financial health of the state said, “Sarkar Gareeb hai, log ameer hain (The government is poor while people are rich). As per data available, the debt liabilities in the state increased to Rs 76,651 crore in 2023. According to the state administration, Himachal is staring at a Rs 520 crore revenue deficit.
Sukhu said this was because of the BJP government before him that depleted the economy and emptied coffers. Till now, the state has been depending on borrowings through market loan with an estimated debt of Rs 86,589 crore. It needs money and possibly loans but Sukhu was not confident and was depending on fiscal prudence.
“Our expense annually on pension and salaries is Rs 25,000 crore. Monthly, it is Rs 1,200 crore on salaries and Rs 80 crore on pension. The BJP has been liberal with sops and freebies leading to this situation. Those who should pay income tax are exempted. Almost everybody has got water and electricity free and this is something I won’t allow. We have tried to improve the finances. For example, we began auction of liquor tenders and earned Rs 485 crore in one year, while BJP government earned Rs 635 crore in five years,” Mr Sukhu said.
According to the chief minister, there had been increase of 20 per cent in the economic growth figure in the state. In contrast, he said the BJP deferred Dearness Allowance (DA) despite the revenue surplus in 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. He also accused the BJP government of not using resources efficiently.
(Manas Dasgupta)