BJP MINISTERS IN NITISH CABINET GETTING BOTH SALARY AND PENSION

Two BJP leaders, who are members of the Nitish Kumar cabinet in Bihar, have been found to be taking salary by virtue of being ministers in Bihar and also taking pensions from the Parliament secretariat simultaneously.

This has been revealed in a response shared by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, to an RTI query that was filed by Shiv Prakash Rai, a Buxar based RTI activist on 12 October.

Mines minister Janak Ram, who was enjoying pension as a former member of Lok Sabha from Gopalganj , could realise the lapse on his part , nine months after becoming minister. He is currently an MLC .

On 28 October , about nine months after taking oath as mines minister, he approached the Lok Sabha with a request that his pension should be stopped.

Apart from Ram, former union minister and BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Husaain, a MLC and industry minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet have been found to be taking pension from the Lok Sabha secretariat.

Hussain had won the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Bhagalpur while Janak Ram won the 2014 election from Gopalganj seat.

The other prominent names in the list include Congress leader from Rajasthan Sachin Pilot who is a MLA from Tonk and was a MP from Ajmer and Dausa.

As per the response shared by the Finance ministry, there are in total 1981 former members of parliament (Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha) who are getting pension.

As per rules, a former member is not entitled to pension from either of the houses if he or she is a serving MLA or MLC.

Janak Ram has been a MLC since 17 March 2021 while Hussain has been a MLC since 21 January 2021.

When reached for a response by the media, Hussain said he had informed the Lok Sabha secretariat about his election as MLC on the day he was elected.