HL Deb 25 November 1952 vol 179 c515

2.36 p.m.

LORD MONKSWELL

My Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, when India was given independence, his late Majesty's Government guaranteed to Indian civil servants their full covenanted pensions of £1,000 per annum at its then value; and, if so, on what principle, when the £1 was devalued, were these covenanted pensions reduced proportionately.]

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR COMMONWEALTH RELATIONS (THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY)

My Lords, with all deference to the noble Lord who has asked this Question, no guarantee has ever been given to retired members of the Indian Civil Service that the purchasing power of their pensions would be maintained at the level at which it stood when India became independent. The second part of the Question does not therefore arise; but it is not the case that these pensions have been reduced.

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