It has been a period of one month, Ranjit Chautala, who was elected as an independent MLA from Rania Assembly seat of Sirsa district, joined BJP on March 24 and fielded as BJP candidate from Hisar parliamentary seat. Ranjit’s resignation from the post of MLA was scheduled to be accepted by Assembly Speaker (Speaker) Gyan Chand Gupta on Tuesday, April 23, but things remained unchanged as Ranjit could not appear personally before the speaker citing personal reasons. It is pertinent to mention that he sent the so-called resignation letter sent by himself to the Speaker through a messenger last month.
Following the acceptance of his resignation, Ranjeet will become a former MLA. Experts opine that as a former MLA, he is eligible to receive pension from the Assembly Secretariat, however, as a minister, he is also entitled to receive salary and allowances from the state government. Till date, it is the first case of its kind that has not happened when a minister leaves the membership of assembly and remains a minister in the state , although it is normal to leave the ministerial post and become an MLA.
However, In this regard, a question arises that ‘’following the resignation from the post of Independent MLA, can Ranjeet continue to be a cabinet minister in the current Nayab Saini government without any restrictions or will he have to resign from that post also? In a response to this an expert said that while taking oath as a minister on March 12, Ranjeet Since he was an MLA, on that basis he is required to resign from the cabinet as well, which can be submitted to the Governor of the state through the Chief Minister. However, despite not being an MLA, a person can be appointed Chief Minister or Minister of the state, provided that person becomes a member of the Legislative Assembly i.e. MLA within 6 months of that appointment, like the current Chief Minister Naib Saini is also not a member of the current Legislative Assembly. He is the BJP candidate in the Karnal assembly seat by-election scheduled on May 25. Son it will be worth seeing whether the aforementioned will apply to Ranjeet also or not.
Ranjit was also inducted into the state cabinet in the new BJP government formed under the leadership of Naib Singh Saini on March 12 last month and on March 22, he was allotted the heavy portfolios like earlier including Energy (Electricity) and Jail Departments. Ranjit Chautala, however, has not resigned from the post of cabinet minister along with the post of MLA so far. Meanwhile, experts opined that although the Speaker has taken a long time of one month to accept the resignation of Ranjit Chautala from the Assembly membership, but if he has been removed from the House under the anti-defection law and Ranjeet Singh wants to be saved from disqualification, then the Speaker will have to accept his resignation from the post of MLA with effect from the previous date of March 24, that is, it should be effective from the same previous date.
Amidst, an interesting but important aspect arises that as a result of his resignation as MLA being accepted from 24th March last month, Ranjeet will become a former MLA and hence he will become a former MLA under the Haryana Assembly Member (Salary, Allowances and Pension) Act. Under 1975, they will be eligible to receive pension from the Assembly Secretariat. Ranjit was also a member of the then Haryana Legislative Assembly from 1987-90 and thus his pension is made for two terms. Further, divulging more details in this regard, Hemant Kumar an expert and a lawyer at Punjab & Haryana high court said that under the provisions of the Haryana Ministers Pay and Allowances Act, 1970, he receives salary and other allowances (except constituency allowance and telephone allowance) as a Minister of the State Government, despite being a non-MLA.
According to the Haryana Assembly Salary-Pension Act, 1974, a former MLA will not be entitled to receive pension only if he becomes the President, Vice President of India or the Governor or Administrator of any state or a member of any House of Parliament or Legislative Assembly. Apart from this, the pension of former MLAs who received salary after working under the Central or State Government also stops. Now, since the post of minister in the state government cannot be termed as a job under the state government, hence a non-MLA minister also becomes eligible to receive the pension of a former MLA.
It is pertinent to mention that there is a difference between not being a member of the current assembly, i.e. being a non-MLA, and being a former MLA who has resigned from the membership of the current assembly. Chief Minister Naib Saini is not a member of the 14th Haryana Assembly till date, while Ranjit Singh has become a former MLA by resigning from the membership of the present Assembly. Till date, there is no such example of a minister of the state resigning from the post of MLA and becoming a minister, although it is normal to leave the post of minister and remain an MLA. Despite being a non-MLA, the period of Ranjit Chautala’s tenure as a minister for a maximum of 6 months will start from the date of acceptance of his resignation from the post of MLA.
