The question of pension to former Haryana Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala, both in jail, will be decided by the Secretary, Haryana Vidhan Sabha.
Disposing of a Public Interest litigation (PIl), the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Secretary, Haryana Vidhan Sabha to take the final call on entitlement of Chautalas to pension as Ex-MlAs, having been convicted under Prevention of Corruption Act.
Advocate HC Arora had filed the PIl in the High Court, seeking withdrawal of the pension benefits to the Chautala father-son duo for being disqualified as MlAs under the Representation of the People Act 1951.
In the petition, the petitioner advocate on the basis of information received under Right to Information Act had said that Om Prakash Chautala was drawing Rs 2.15 lakh, and Ajay Chautala Rs 50,100 per month as pension from the State.
The petitioner submitted that Chautalas were convicted by a Delhi Court on January 16, 2013, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. later, their appeals were dismissed by Delhi High Court on March 5, 2015. Subsequently, their further petitions were also dismissed by the Supreme Court of India.
The petitioner argued that under the provisions contained in Section 7-A (1-A) the Haryana legislative Assembly (Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members) Act, 1975, “No pension shall be admissible under sub-section (1) to a member in respect of the term and during the period for which he is disqualified under the Representation of the People Act, 1951.”
The precise argument of the petitioner was that under Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, Chautalas stood disqualified for a period of 16 years (10 years of sentence plus 6 years more) from 16.1.2013 itself, i.e., the date on which they were convicted, as their appeals against conviction stood dismissed.
Petitioner had stated in his PIl that despite conviction and ten years’ sentence, the two had been drawing monthly pension and had withdrawn an amount more than Rs 1 crore after Jan 16, 2013.
Disposing of the matter, the Division Bench of Justice A.K. Mittal and Justice Raj Rahul Garg directed the Secretary, Haryana Vidhan Sabha to take a final call on the demand notice of the petitioner seeking stoppage of pension to Chautalas in a period of two months and pass a speaking order, having given a personal hearing to the petitioner.