Shimla, April 10 -- The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the Secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha to release due pension and arrears to former legislators within one month, warning that any delay will attract interest at the rate of 6% per annum.

The order came from a Division Bench comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and Justice Ranjan Sharma while disposing of two writ petitions filed by former MLAs Rajinder Rana and Ravi Thakur seeking release of their pensionary benefits.

Reacting to the development, a senior advocate of the Himachal Pradesh High Court and counsel Vikrant Thakur in the matter termed the withholding of pension as 'completely unconstitutional,' asserting that the state cannot go beyond the mandate ...