The government on Friday took strong exception to the Supreme Court’s observation on pensions for members of Parliament, assuring the Lok Sabha that members of Parliament had full rights under the law to legislate on the matter.
Speaking for the government, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar said, “I think every member of the House agrees that the right of the House is sacrosanct. Parliament has every right to decide about salaries and allowances of the MPs.” He told Speaker Sumitra Mahajan that “the entire House is with you on the matter.” Mr. Kumar's response came after a number of opposition MPs raise the issue of the Supreme Court's reported comments that 80% of former law markers are “crorepatis”.
On Thursday too, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said in the Rajya Sabha that Parliament alone had the authority to decide on how much pension MPs can draw and inter-institutional discipline has to be respected.
Transgressing rights
In the Lok Sabha, it was Trinamool Congress’s Saugata Roy who raised the issue during Zero Hour, stating that while the SC was transgressing its rights, Parliament was not asking why former judges were being given pensions. “The SC is transgressing its rights. It is an exclusive right of Parliament to decide on the issue. We are not asking why SC judges are being paid pension. We should take a stand on the issue,” he said.
The Supreme Court had on Tuesday reportedly said that pensions and perks to MPs seemed ‘prima facie’ unreasonable and had sought responses from the Centre and the ECI on a plea seeking the scrapping of pension and other perks being given to MPs.
