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In a bold and unprecedented move, the Gujarat legislative assembly on Friday voted unanimously to repeal a 12-year-old law that granted pension to former legislators.
The MLAs Pension Act of 1984 that was 'deemed to have come into force on August 8, 1989' becomes the first law to be repealed by the Gujarat assembly since its inception in 1960.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress members showed rare unanimity in passing of the official bill moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Mehta to repeal the law though the Congress members did criticise the government for leaving former legislators in the lurch.
Interestingly, the Gujarat High Court had directed the state government to frame rules for payment of pension to former legislators.
But the Keshubhai Patel ministry expressed its inability to do so immediately citing preoccupation with relief work in the wake of the January 26 earthquake.
The state government was pushed into repealing the act after a former legislator and freedom fighter Mahendra Desai and some other leaders went on an indefinite hunger to press the issue.
When Mehta moved the official bill in the House, several Congress members accused the government of 'succumbing to pressure tactics' of the fasting leaders and backtracking on its promise to the Gujarat High Court.
The five-hour-long debate was marked by heated exchanges with some of the Congress members pleading the case of many former legislators who were living in pitiable condition. They argued that pension be given only to 'deserving formers MLAs'.
They also said that whereas other states had hiked salaries and allowances of legislators and enacted legislation to give pension to former MLAs, the Gujarat government was going the other way.
On the other hand, almost all BJP legislators wanted the government to scrap the act immediately to fulfil an electoral promise.
In his reply to the debate, Mehta said that since less than 1,000 former legislators had to be paid a monthly pension of between Rs 300 and Rs 600, the overall burden on the exchequer was not unmanageable.
However, he pointed out that it was a matter of principle - a question of whether legislators, who are elected to serve the people, should become a burden on them.
Indo-Asian News Service
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