A three-member Committee chaired by former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha PDT Achary favoured a 400 per cent hike in the basic salary of the Capital’s MLAs — from Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 50,000 per month — in addition to a slew of allowances for purposes ranging from travel to office furniture. The Committee also felt that while the revised salary and allowances be effective for one term, it also recommended that legislators’ salary be raised by 10% of the basic salary, or Rs. 5,000, every year from the date on which the new pay and allowances came into force to ‘neutralise the impact of inflation.’

Points to Note

• Apart from basic salary, the committee has recommended hiking constituency allowance from current Rs 18,000 to Rs 50,000, saying the current amount was “grossly” inadequate.
• A reimbursable sum of Rs 70,000 per month has also been recommended as allowance under ‘Secretarial, Research and Office Assistance’ head which is Rs 30,000 at present.
• An ‘office rental and related utilities’ allowance of Rs 25,000 has been recommended for meeting expenditure on office space and other essential amenities provided by government agencies.
• The committee has also suggested a communication allowance of Rs 10,000 per month as well as Rs 30,000 as monthly conveyance allowance for each MLA.
• The ‘Daily’ allowance of each MLA during every sitting of the House or its committees has been recommended to be hiked from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000.
• The one-time allowances of MLAs have also been recommended to be increased significantly with one time ‘office furnishing’ allowance of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 60,000 for purchasing office equipment and a vehicle loan of Rs 12 lakh, which is Rs 4 lakh at present.
• The committee has also recommended a hike in monthly pension from the existing Rs 7,500 to Rs 15,000 per month for first term of membership and an additional pension of Rs 1,000 per month for every successive year of membership beyond the first term.
• The committee’s recommendations also include a maximum reimbursable travel allowance fo Rs 3 lakh per annum for each MLA and his dependents by air, rail, road or steamer.
• It also favoured a 10 per cent raise in the basic salary, Rs 5,000 per month, after every 12 months, from the date on which new salary and allowances come into force.