Gurugram: The Haryana Vidhan Sabha’s Monsoon session, scheduled to begin on Friday, is set to introduce a major amendment bill that could offer economic relief to the state’s 550 ex-legislators by scrapping a cap on their pension and allowances.
The Haryana Vidhan Sabha (Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill, 2025, seeks to eliminate the Rs 1 lakh monthly ceiling on combined monthly pension, dearness relief and special travelling allowance. If approved, former MLAs would be eligible for up to Rs 10,000 a month as travel allowance without being restricted by the total benefit limit.
Former Haryana MLAs already draw the highest pensions in the country – more than three times the amount received by a former Member of Parliament.
The financial memorandum included with the bill estimates that the move to remove the cap will cost the state exchequer another Rs 55 lakh every year.
The draft Bill to be presented by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mahipal Dhanda aims to amend Section 7C of the 1975 Act following sustained lobbying by former MLAs who petitioned the Assembly Speaker individually and as groups.
They contend that the current provisions do not take into account long-term inflation, which has eroded the real value of their benefits.
“In the recent past, several members have individually and collectively submitted representation to the Hon’ble Speaker and expressed that the present provision … does not properly represent the prevailing inflationary trends,” says the bill’s statement of objects and reasons.
Rambir Singh, an ex-MLA and president of a delegation of former legislators who met the Haryana Assembly Speaker, Harvinder Kalyan in December last year, told The Print on Thursday that they were satisfied with the government’s response to their demands.
“In the last Cabinet meeting held earlier this month, the state government had approved Rs 10,000 per month as medical allowance for the ex-MLAs above the age of 60 on our demand,” said Singh, who represented the Pataudi Assembly seat in Gurugram district from 2000 to 2005.
“Though the provision for the travel allowance was already there, we had demanded that unless the cap of Rs 1 lakh was not removed, many of the ex-MLAs wouldn’t get its benefit because their pension, along with dearness allowance, already crosses Rs 1 lakh,” he added.
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Haryana MLAs get the highest pension in the country
A former Haryana Assembly officer, who did not want to be identified, told The Print that the state’s ex-MLAs receive the maximum pension, with some long-serving former legislators drawing up to Rs 2.38 lakh per month based on multiple terms and the consolidated pension structure.
In Haryana, ex-MLAs receive a base pension of Rs 50,000 for the first term plus Rs 2,000 per additional year of service. This means that some six-term veterans receive as much as Rs 2.45 lakh a month. Bihar comes next, where a six-time MLA gets nearly Rs 1.65 lakh a month as pension.
Punjab offers a fixed Rs 75,150 per month regardless of terms, following reforms to eliminate multiple pensions. Telangana caps pensions at a maximum of Rs 70,000, regardless of terms. Sikkim provides a minimum of Rs 50,000 per month for former MLAs, with potential adjustments for longer service, the officer informed.
Former MPs in India receive a base pension of Rs 31,000 a month, plus an additional Rs 2,500 for each year of service beyond the initial five years.
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Pension of ex-MLAs in Haryana
Under the Haryana Legislative Assembly (Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members) Act, 1975—last amended on 31 August 2021—a one-term MLA is eligible to receive a minimum monthly pension of Rs 50,000, along with dearness relief as fixed by the state government from time to time.
The former Haryana Assembly officer quoted above revealed that with the existing 53 percent dearness relief rate, with effect from 31 July 2024, a one-term MLA’s monthly pension amounts to Rs 76,500.
If the overall pension is less than Rs 1 lakh, as in the case of a legislator who has served for just one term, the member is also entitled to a special travel allowance of Rs 10,000 per month. This thus brings the overall payment for a one-term MLA to Rs 86,500 per month.
Conversely, with the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, as amended till 11 May 2022, a one-term MP is eligible for a pension of only Rs 25,000, less than a third of what a Haryana MLA receives.
“Haryana MLAs are paid the highest pension in the nation. For instance, a six-term MLA is paid Rs 2.45 lakh per month, a five-term MLA Rs 2.07 lakh, a four-term MLA Rs 1.68 lakh, a three-term MLA Rs 1.29 lakh, and a two-term MLA Rs 90,600,” the former official said.
The 1975 Act has been amended 48 times before this, with 44 of these changes made before 2014 – most of them aimed at increasing perks and pensions.
Former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s government alone changed the law five times in 1980 in his first term, and another eight times between 1984 and 1986. During his third term from 1991 to 1996, there were four more amendments.
Bansi Lal’s tenure as chief minister saw four alterations, while the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government introduced 11 amendments in nine years.
It was only after Manohar Lal Khattar assumed office in 2014 that a 2018 amendment, applied retrospectively from 2016, introduced a limit on pensions for legislators, who had not served out their first term up to 1 January of that year.
Enacted on 15 March 2018, with retrospective effect from 1 January 2016, the Haryana Legislative Assembly (Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill, 2018, basically overhauled the pension scheme.
Until 2018, the system provided for more than one pension for non-consecutive periods, base pensions plus add-ons for additional years, dearness pensions in addition, and dearness relief indexed to pre-1996 levels at 245 percent.
The 2018 reforms established two different classes of pensioners.
For MLAs who became eligible post-2016, a uniform Rs 50,000 a month for the first term (irrespective of whether it was less than five years), along with Rs 2,000 a month for every extra year of service. Their dearness relief is computed at current rates for state government pensioners.
For multiple-term ex-MLAs who had already completed their first term before 1 January 2016, the pension is fixed at the amount they were receiving before this date. Their pension does not increase further even if they are re-elected after 2016.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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