The Hindu : LS passes Bill on MPs' pension

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 23, 2003

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LS passes Bill on MPs' pension

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI DEC. 22. The Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill, 2003, was unanimously passed by the Lok Sabha today within minutes of its introduction by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, with only the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, Somnath Chatterjee, voicing concern over the manner in which Parliamentarians themselves decided on their salaries.

Though Ms. Swaraj had only sought permission to introduce the Bill — since it was not scheduled in the "List of Business" for the day — members, particularly of the BJP, said it ought to be taken up for consideration and passed right away. There was not a single note of difference from the Opposition — which has several times questioned the Government's efforts to rush through with legislative business.

The Bill was passed in less than 10 minutes.

Before reading out the provisions of the amendment to the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, the Minister sought to respond to Mr. Chatterjee's observation that such matters should not be decided by the members themselves.

Ms. Swaraj said till a mechanism was put in place to take such decisions, Parliament would have to decide on the salary/allowances/pension of members.

For the main part, the Bill seeks to provide a minimum monthly pension of Rs. 3,000 to all former MPs, irrespective of their period of membership; increase family pension to Rs. 1,500 a month to the dependents of MPs for five years from the death of the member; and define "dependent" for the purpose of family pension.

This apart, the Bill allows the MPs to travel by private airlines for official purposes, provides road mileage to the nearest airport to the members from the North-East and to those residing within a distance of 300 km from Delhi, and allows them to carry forward unutilised telephone calls out of the sanctioned 1.5 lakh free local calls per annum to the subsequent year with retrospective effect from April 1, 2002.

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