The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to take a “categorical stand” on the issue of allowing MPs and MLAs to fix their own salaries and allowances. A bench comprising of Justices Chelameshwar and Sanjay Kaul has asked the Centre to respond within a specified time.
The court was hearing a petition filed by NGO Lok Prahari which has sought directions to scrap some provisions relating to perks and allowances of former MPs and MLAs. The petitioner has argued that former MPs receive several perks like lifetime pension, which are not accorded to even retired governors, judges and other such public officials. It said that such provisions violate Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees right to equality.
The bench said that the Centre had earlier proposed to establish an independent board to review salaries and allowances for members of parliament. It said that the fact that MPs possess powers to review and increase their own salaries is “an important ethical and legal issue.”
During the course of arguments, Justice Chelameshwar referred to his own judgement dated 16 February in which the apex court had declared that election candidates must mandatorily declare details pertaining to their sources of wealth and their relatives. Candidates with disproportionate assets were declared to be liable to immediate disqualification.
The Centre, in response through its counsel, senior advocate Ajit Sinha, said that the idea of setting up an independent board for periodically reviewing salaries of legislators was under consideration and sought two weeks time to reply on that point.
“You have not stated your position. Your affidavit in September 2017 was not clear about a permanent mechanism. When are you going to do it?” asked Justice Kaul to Ajit Sinha, who asked for some time to respond.