BRS leader Chennamaneni Ramesh HYDERABAD: Almost an year after the Telangana high court ruled that BRS leader Chennamaneni Ramesh was not an Indian citizen, and slapped a Rs 30 lakh fine on him for concealing his German citizenship while contesting assermbly elections, he continues to receive his pension of around Rs 60,000 from the Telangana assembly as a former MLA.Vemulawada Congress MLA Adi Srinivas has now asked the assembly secretary not to pay the pension to Ramesh as he was not entitled to any govt benefits. He urged the secretary to recover the benefits, emoluments and salary given to the Vemulawada ex-MLA.
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According to assembly rules, ex-MLAs are entitled to pension, medical reimbursement and other benefits. As Ramesh was MLA for four terms from Vemulawada, he drew more than Rs 50,000 as monthly pension from Dec 2023.”I had requested the assembly secretary earlier not to pay Chennamaneni Ramesh his pension as the court had said he committed a fraud by suppressing facts about his citizenship,” Srinivas, who challenged Ramesh’s citizenship in court, said on Monday. “As there has been no action, I am again requesting the assembly secretary and speaker to stop his pension immediately. I will approach high court on this issue again, if required,” he said.
The high court in Dec 2024 had said Ramesh was not an Indian citizen and upheld the Centre’s order from 2019, Srinivas said, adding that the BRS leader also paid damages of Rs 30 lakh on the court’s orders. “How can a foreigner be eligible for pension benefits from the Indian govt?” Srinivas asked.Sources said the assembly secretary had earlier told Srinivas that the high court order did not say anything about recovering salary and other emoluments from Ramesh. There was no provision under existing rules to make such recoveries.Telangana former advocate general K Rama Krishna Reddy said it was an established fact that Ramesh was not an Indian citizen. “The legislative secretary cannot decide on pension issues as he does not have adjudicating powers. Assembly speakers can decide whether Ramesh is entitled to the pension or not as it is the decision post-disposal of the court case. Srinivas can also approach the ‘competent court’ on the issue.”He said Srinivas approached the apex court by filing a special leave petition to declare him as elected for the terms Ramesh was elected MLA. However, in Aug this year SC, declining to interfere, said it could not ‘resurrect’ the matter as the term of the assembly membership was over.Ramesh’s argument was that the court did not say anything about his salary, pension and other benefits and also that the order comes into prospective effect — not retrospective effect. “Even the SC did not talk about the emoluments and pension when the present MLA approached the top court,” a source close to Ramesh, who is currently in Germany, told TOI.