New Delhi: The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has decided against scrapping a 145-year-old law, which exempts pension from being “attached or sequestered”, though a bill seeking its abrogation from statute book has already been passed by the Lok Sabha.

            Earlier, the DoPT had asked the Law Ministry to include the Pensions Act, 1871 in the repealing bill so it could be removed from the statute book. One of the key provisions of the law is that it exempts pension from attachment by any court. But later, it wrote to the Law Ministry to remove the Act from the repealing bill.

            After its passage in the Lok Sabha, the Repealing and Amending (Third) Bill, 2015 is pending in the Rajya Sabha.

            The Law Ministry is the nodal agency for repealing laws which have lost relevance today.

            A senior government functionary said that perhaps the realisation that there is no other law in the country which protects pensions led to decision against scrapping the Act. (Courtesy: Confederation News)