India, April 10 -- In a significant ruling, the Himachal Pradesh high court has directed the Vidhan Sabha secretary to release all due pensions and arrears to former legislators within a month.

The division bench, comprising Justice Vivek Singh Thakur and justice Ranjan Sharma, warned that failure to comply with the timeline would attract an interest rate of 6% per annum on the outstanding payments.

The orders, passed on April 7, 2026, came while disposing of writ petitions filed by former MLAs Rajinder Rana and Ravi Thakur. Both leaders, originally elected on the Congress ticket in 2022, were disqualified under the anti-defection law after cross-voting in the 2024 Rajya Sabha elections. They subsequently joined the BJP in March 2024. T...