Ex JD(U) prez Sharad Yadav can't take salary & perks as MP: SC

Former Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav, who has been disqualified as an MP by the Rajya Sabha chairman, cannot draw his salary, allowances or perks entitled to him as a Member of Parliament, the Supreme Court today said.

The top court modified the Delhi High Court order passed last year by which it had allowed Yadav to draw salary, allowances and perks till the pendency of his plea challenging the disqualification as an MP from Rajya Sabha.

A vacation bench of Justices A K Goel and Ashok Bhushan, however, allowed him to retain his official bungalow, as ordered by the high court on December 15 last year.

The apex court's decision came on a plea by JD (U)'s Rajya Sabha MP Ramchandra Prasad Singh challenging the Delhi High Court's interim order.

At the outset, the counsel appearing for Yadav said that he is ready to forgo his salary, allowances and perks but he should be allowed to retain his official residence, till the pendency of petition in high court.

The bench then asked Yadav's counsel as how can the high court direct him to pay the salary and perks when he has been disqualified by the chairman of the upper house.

"We will modify the order of high court directing payment of salary, allowances and perks. As far as official residence is concerned that part we are not touching and he can stay there till the pendency of his petition," the bench said.

Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar appearing for Singh said that the order of the high court should be modified as the high court cannot ask for payment of salary and retention of his official residence at New Delhi here as he has been disqualified by the Rajya Sabha chairman on December 4, last year.

Kumar said Yadav's petition pending before the high court should be directed to be decided expeditiously by a division bench.

The bench then directed that the petition be heard in July by a division bench of the high court and matter be decided expeditiously.

On December 15, last year, the high court, had refused to grant interim stay on Yadav's disqualification as a Rajya Sabha MP.

The interim order of the high court had come on Yadav's plea challenging his disqualification on several grounds, including that he was not given any chance to present his case by the Rajya Sabha chairman before passing an order against him and his colleague and then MP Ali Anwar on December 4, 2017.

On May 18, the top court had agreed to hear the appeal filed by Singh against the High Court order and had issued a notice to Yadav.

Singh, the JD(U) leader in the Upper House, had sought their disqualification on the ground that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of its directives.

Yadav had joined hands with the opposition after JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dumped the grand alliance with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar and tied up with the BJP in July last year.

Yadav was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 and his term was scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwar's term as a Rajya Sabha MP expired in April. Both were disqualified under the anti-defection law.