New Delhi: The Delhi Assembly on Monday passed five Bills for increasing the salary of legislators by nearly 66% and that of ministers and other senior functionaries by over 100%. The salaries of Delhi MLAs were last increased in 2011 and an earlier attempt by the Arvind Kejriwal government to increase them in 2015 had faced hurdles from the Union government.
Earlier, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena had approved the introduction of legislation that provided for increasing the salaries of the MLAs by over 66%. The move had come after the Ministry of Home Affairs decided in the first week of May to allow this revision of salary and allowances.
For effecting the change in the salaries of the ministers (including the chief minister), MLAs, chief whip, speaker and deputy speaker, and leader of opposition in the assembly, a total of five Bills were tabled and passed in the House on the first day of the monsoon session on Monday.
The Bills were tabled by Delhi’s minister for law, justice and legislative affairs Kailash Gahlot. He later tweeted that the “bills will come into force after approval of President of India”.
Today, @DelhiAssembly passed five bills to increase the salary & allowances of Ministers, MLAs, Chief Whip, Speaker & Dy. Speaker and Leader of Opposition after 11 long years since the last increase.These bills will come into force after approval of President of India.
— Kailash Gahlot (@kgahlot) July 4, 2022
With the passage of the Bills, the path has been paved for effecting a significant increase in the salaries of MLAs as well as other functionaries. Once the proposal is approved by the Union government, the salary and allowances of legislators will increase from Rs 54,000 per month to around Rs 90,000. While the salary component for MLAs will increase from around Rs 12,000 per month to Rs 30,000 per month, the rest of the increase will be by way of the allowances they get.
As per the break-up of the allowances, the MLAs will upon assent of the President to the Bill get higher allowances under various categories. Their constituency allowance will go up to Rs 25,000 from Rs 18,000, while the conveyance allowance will rise to Rs 10,000 from Rs 6,000. Likewise, the telephone allowance will go up by Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000 and the secretarial allowance will increase by Rs 5,000 to reach Rs 15,000.
In the case of the ministers and other functionaries, the increase in salary and allowances will be even more significant. Their total emoluments are expected to rise from around Rs 72,000 per month to around Rs 1,70,000 per month.
Speaking in favour of the initiative, Delhi finance minister and deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the move was necessary to attract talented people to politics. “To invite talented people into politics, there has to be rewards. The corporates get talented pool of people because of the salaries,” he reasoned.
It was also pointed out that there was a need to increase these salaries and allowances in view of the increased cost of living and because these emoluments were among the lowest in the country for the public functionaries.
Sisodia also recalled how the Union government had objected to a similar increase in the salary and allowances of MLAs seven years ago. “The Central Government had a few objections seven years ago. After incorporating their suggestions, Delhi Assembly has once again passed this bill and hopes for the Centre to pass it,” he said.
In 2011, the Delhi government had proposed increasing the salary and allowances of MLAs by Rs 2.10 lakh per month but the MHA had refused to accept the proposal.
Thereafter, as reported by a news agency last month, Delhi Assembly speaker Ram Niwas Goel had urged the Centre to re-examine the issue. He had pointed out that the salaries of Delhi’s legislators were much lower than those of the MLAs in other states, who were in most cases getting around Rs 2 lakh per month. Then in May, the MHA allowed the Delhi government to go ahead with the new legislation.