New Delhi:&nbsp;Salary and allowances of Delhi MLAs&nbsp;may see a whopping two-and-half fold hike from current Rs&nbsp;88,000 per month to Rs 2.10 lakh if recommendations of an&nbsp;expert panel are accepted by the government.&nbsp;
The three-member committee chaired by former Secretary&nbsp;General of Lok Sabha PDT Achary, in its report submitted to&nbsp;Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, has favoured a 400 per cent&nbsp;hike in basic salary of MLAs from Rs 12,000 to Rs 50,000 per&nbsp;month.
Overall, the hike recommended has been 138 per cent.&nbsp;
In July, a group of AAP legislatiors had demanded a&nbsp;significant hike in salary, arguing their earnings were not&nbsp;enough to run their family and offices.&nbsp;
"The committee has recommended to increase the existing&nbsp;salary of MLAs from Rs 12,000 per month to Rs 50,000 per&nbsp;month. Also, total salary and allowances of MLAs have been&nbsp;recommended to be enhanced from the present Rs 88,000 per&nbsp;month to Rs 2.10 lakh per month," Achary told reporters.
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The recommendations were made considering Constitutional&nbsp;provisions and their job profile, he said.&nbsp;Apart from basic salary, the committee has recommended&nbsp;hiking constituency allowance from current Rs 18,000 to Rs&nbsp;50,000, saying the current amount was "grossly" inadequate.&nbsp;
A reimbursible sum of Rs 70,000 per month has also been&nbsp;recommended as allowance under 'Secretarial, Research and&nbsp;Office Assistance' head which is Rs 30,000 at present.&nbsp;
An 'office rental and related utilities' allowance of Rs&nbsp;25,000 has been recommended for meeting expenditure on office&nbsp;space and other essential amenities provided by government&nbsp;agencies.
The committee has also suggested a communication allowance&nbsp;of Rs 10,000 per month as well as Rs 30,000 as monthly&nbsp;conveyance allowance for each MLA.
The 'Daily' allowance of each MLA during every sitting of&nbsp;the House or its committees has been recommended to be hiked&nbsp;from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000.
The one-time allowances of MLAs have also been recommended&nbsp;to be increased significantly with one time 'office&nbsp;furnishing' allowance of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 60,000 for purchasing&nbsp;office equipment and a vehicle loan of Rs 12 lakh, which is Rs&nbsp;4 lakh at present.
The lawmakers' salary was last increased by 100 per cent&nbsp;in September 2011 by the then Sheila Dikshit government,&nbsp;citing inflation and the rise in the cost of living cost.&nbsp;
The committee has also recommended a hike in monthly&nbsp;pension from the existing Rs 7,500 to Rs 15,000 per month for&nbsp;first term of membership and an additional pension of Rs 1,000&nbsp;per month for every successive year of membership beyond the&nbsp;first term, Achary said.
The family pension has been recommended at 50 percent of&nbsp;the pension being paid to a deceased member or an ex-member,&nbsp;he said.
The committee's recommendations also include a maximum&nbsp;reimbursable travel allowance fo Rs 3 lakh per annum for each&nbsp;MLA and his dependents by air, rail, road or steamer.
In an important recommendation, it also favoured a 10 per&nbsp;cent raise in the basic salary, Rs 5,000 per month, after&nbsp;every 12 months, from the date on which new salary and&nbsp;allowances come into force.
The committee of experts finalised its 21-page "unanimous&nbsp;report" over five lengthy sittings. The committee, including&nbsp;non-official members KV Prasad and Balraj Malik, went through&nbsp;pay and allowances structures of many state assemblies as well&nbsp;as those of the US Congress, UK, Australia and many other&nbsp;Commonwealth nations, member secretary of the committee Prasanna Kumar said.
The guiding principle for the committee was to take a&nbsp;constructive, logical and scientific path and recommend&nbsp;measures that will help build the 'office' of a legislator, an&nbsp;institutional concept not formally approached so far in the&nbsp;country, he said.&nbsp;
With the proposed hike in salary, the committee felt that&nbsp;there is no need for additional provision to meet the expenses&nbsp;incurred by MLAs on domestic consumption of power and water.
Also, it said there is no need to provide MLAs with either&nbsp;rent-free official accommodation or house rent allowance,&nbsp;which is a standard practice in every legislature in the&nbsp;country, he said.
The report of the committee handed over to the Speaker&nbsp;will now by put before the Assembly's Committee of Salary and&nbsp;Allowances for consideration. Thereafter the government will&nbsp;consider it and, if accepted, come up with a Bill, he added.

Salary and allowances of Delhi MLAs&nbsp;may see a whopping two-and-half fold hike from current Rs&nbsp;88,000 per month to Rs 2.10 lakh if recommendations of an&nbsp;expert panel are accepted by the government

Expert panel recommends 400 per cent hike in salaries of Delhi MLAs

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Expert panel recommends 400 per cent hike in salaries of Delhi MLAs

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