S P ANAND Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER, claiming to be a Constitutionalist and a public spirited person, has filed this petition in public interest for quashing grant and payment of pension to Members of Parliament. He has also challenged legislative competence of the Parliament to enact Section 8-A of The Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, being ultra vires Articles 14, 21 and 106 of the Constitution and has prayed for its quashment.

(2.) PETITIONER's short case is that Constitution did not provide for grant and payment of pension to MPs as was evident from the provisions of Article 106 of the Constitution which contemplated only payment of salaries and allowances to such Members, to be determined by Parliament. Therefore, Parliament was competent only to enact a legislation related to salary and allowances of the Members of Parliament and 'not the pension' because wherever Constitution makers had intended to provide for such grant and payment of pension, it was so specified, as in the case of Supreme Court and High Court Judges (Articles 125 and 221) and Members of Public Service Commission (Article 322 ). This also finds support from the other relevant provisions of the Constitution which significantly omitted to make any provision for grant of pension to President, Prime Minister, Union Ministers, Governors, Chief Ministers or State Ministers. In other words it was projected that Article 106 operated as implied bar/prohibition against any other payment to the MPs except their salary and allowances for which Parliament could legislate and enact a law.

(3.) SHRI Vyas, AAG, repelled this and submitted that Article 106 provided for payment of salaries and allowances to the existing Members of the Parliament and not to the Ex-Members. As such, it was not attracted to any grant or payment to be made to the Ex or "past Members'. Nor could any prohibition or restriction be read in its provisions coming in the way of Parliament to make a law for grant and payment of pension to the Past Members of the Parliament which was covered by Entry 71 of Union List of 7th Schedule.