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In a significant ruling, the Himachal Pradesh high court has directed the Vidhan Sabha secretary to release all due pensions and arrears to former legislators within a month.
The division bench, comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and justice Ranjan Sharma, warned that failure to comply with the timeline would attract an interest rate of 6% per annum on the outstanding payments.
The orders, passed on April 7, 2026, came while disposing of writ petitions filed by former MLAs Rajinder Rana and Ravi Thakur. Both leaders, originally elected on the Congress ticket in 2022, were disqualified under the anti-defection law after cross-voting in the 2024 Rajya Sabha elections. They subsequently joined the BJP in March 2024. Their petitions challenged the state’s move to withhold pension benefits following their disqualification from the 14th legislative assembly.
Prospective law protects past terms
The court’s direction followed a clarification from the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat, which revealed that the state government had withdrawn its controversial Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill, 2024. A subsequent 2026 Bill was introduced, specifying that pension disqualification for those ousted under the anti-defection law would only apply prospectively to members elected to the 14th legislative assembly and onwards.
The secretary of the Vidhan Sabha informed the Bench that since Rana and Thakur were elected during the 12th and 13th legislative assemblies, they do not fall under the ambit of the new legislation. “The due and admissible pension for the future shall be released well in time,” the court clarified, noting that the new Bill currently awaits the governor’s assent but does not impede the petitioners’ existing rights.
BJP slams ‘legislative weaponisation’
The opposition BJP welcomed the judgment and termed it an exposure of the Congress government’s “politics of vendetta.” BJP spokesperson Ashish Sharma said the verdict was a “slap on the face” of the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government, alleging that the 2024 Bill was a deliberate attempt at “legislative weaponisation” to penalise the rebels through retrospective legislation.
“The government was eventually compelled to withdraw the flawed 2024 amendment and introduce a revised version in 2026. This itself is an admission that the earlier move was unconstitutional and driven by malice,” Sharma said.
The opposition alleged that former legislators were subjected to financial and mental harassment for nearly two years due to the withholding of their legitimate dues, forcing them into protracted legal battles.
