§ 9. Mr. W. R. Williamsasked the Under-Secretary of State for India why persons on the India Office establishment who were transferred to the office of the High Commissioner for India under the Order in Council of 13th August, 1920, and have since retired, are not being paid by the India Office the increase of pension granted to civil servants under the Pensions (Increase) Act, 1947, although the Order in Council provides that such persons should be in no worse position for purposes of superannuation than if they had remained on the establishment of the Secretary of State.
§ Mr. A. HendersonThe difficulty in this case arises from the fact that the Order in Council to which my hon. Friend refers provided that the persons in question should be in no worse position than if they had remained on the establishment not of the Secretary of State, but of the Secretary of State in Council, a corporate entity which ceased to exist after the 31st March, 1937. As a consequence, the Pensions (Increase) Act, 1947, does not automatically apply to them, and my noble Friend has no power to apply it without the agreement of the Government of India, whose consent has not yet been obtained. The matter is however, receiving further consideration.