Shimla, April 10 In response to the plea of former MLAs, Rajinder Rana and Ravi Thakur, who were disqualified under the Anti-defection Law in March 2024, the Himachal High Court has directed the Secretary of the Himachal Vidhan Sabha to release their outstanding pension payments within one month from April 7, 2026.
In disposing of the petition, a bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ranjan Sharma stated that if the outstanding payments are not released within the stipulated period, the Vidhan Sabha Secretary will be liable to pay interest at a rate of six percent per annum from the date of accrual until final payment.
A copy of the order was made available on Friday.
The order stated that the petitions argued that the earlier Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill, 2024, had since been withdrawn by the State Government.
Subsequently, a new Bill was passed by the State Legislature, which provides that "a person elected as a Member in the 14th Legislative Assembly or thereafter shall not be entitled to a pension under the Act if they have been disqualified under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution".
The scope and applicability of the new Bill are prospective in nature and limited only to MLAs elected from the 14th Legislative Assembly onwards, and the petitioners in the present writ petitions were also elected as MLAs in the 12th and 13th Legislative Assembly and do not fall within the ambit of the newly passed Bill, it said.
Consequently, as per the provisions of the newly passed Bill, both petitioners would continue to be entitled to pension for previous terms, the order said.
According to the new Bill passed by the Vidhan Sabha on the concluding day of the recent budget session, two first-time MLAs, Chaitanya Sharma from Gagret and Devender Bhutto from Kutlehar assembly constituencies, will be denied pension benefits.
They are among the six MLAs disqualified by Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania in March 2024.
Ravi Thakur and Rajinder Rana, who lost the 2024 Assembly by-elections, will not be entitled to a pension for the 14th Assembly term. However, they will receive the pension for their service during the 12th and 13th terms.
Sudhir Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, who were re-elected as BJP candidates, will not be affected by the new provisions.
All six MLAs, then Congress members, were disqualified after cross-voting in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the February 2024 Rajya Sabha elections and defying the party whip during the cut motions and Budget proceedings.
Reacting to the judgement, BJP spokesperson Ashish Sharma said the decision established that laws cannot be framed or applied with retrospective intent to penalize individuals, but must operate prospectively in accordance with constitutional principles.
Calling the verdict a "slap on the face of the government," Sharma said, "The Congress government attempted to weaponize legislation for political retribution, but the court has now made it clear that laws are meant for the future, not for settling political scores".