Governor of Punjab, Banwari Lal Purohit has approved the ‘One MLA One Pension Act’ in the state. The move makes former legislators eligible for a single pension irrespective of the number of terms served by them. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann tweeted and shared the information:

I am very happy to inform Punjabis that Hon’ble Governor has approved the “One MLA-One Pension” bill. Govt has issued a notification. This will save a lot of tax for the public.

The cabinet of the Punjab state government issued this ordinance on May 2, 2022. The Governor of Punjab returned the ordinance on May 25, asking the state government to introduce the Bill to the June session of the Punjab assembly. The bill was passed by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on June 30, 2022. The state government of Punjab is expected to save around Rs 19.53 crore annually on account of providing pensions to former MLAs for a single term.

Now under the new rule, every person who had been elected as an MLA in Punjab will get a pension of rupees 60,000 per month. Apart from this, dearness allowance will also be given irrespective of the terms served by the person as an MLA. Currently, in Punjab, an MLA gets a pension of rupees 75,000 for one term. After this, the person gets a separate pension of 66% of the original amount for each term s/he had been in the office. More than 300 former MLAs in Punjab are getting pensions currently. From now onwards, all the MLAs will get pensions under the new rule.