Delhi Assembly forms committee to review salaries, allowances of MLAs

New Delhi: Speaker Vijender Gupta on Wednesday formed a five-member committee to review the salaries, allowances, and other facilities provided to the legislators of the Delhi assembly.
The decision was taken following demands from MLAs of both governing and opposition parties that their salaries be revised. The demand from newly elected Delhi legislators came days after the Centre announced a revision in the salary, pension, and additional pension of MPs and ex-MPs by 24% with effect from April 1, 2023, based on the cost inflation index, and Karnataka govt doubled the salaries of MLAs.
The salaries of Delhi MLAs were increased by 67% – from Rs 54,000 per month to Rs 90,000 – as recently as in Feb 2023. The salaries of the chief minister, cabinet ministers, speaker, deputy speaker, chief whip, and leader of opposition were increased from Rs 72,000 to Rs 1.7 lakh.
The speaker said that the committee was being formed keeping in view the "sentiments and requirements" of the members of the legislative committee. "The objective of the committee is to examine the current status of salaries and allowances and to consider potential amendments, so that legislators may receive suitable facilities," Gupta said.
The committee is chaired by BJP MLA from Laxmi Nagar, Abhay Verma, while the other members include Surya Prakash Khatri (BJP MLA from Timarpur), Poonam Sharma (BJP MLA from Wazirpur), Sanjeev Jha (AAP MLA from Burari), and Vishesh Ravi (AAP MLA from Karol Bagh). The speaker said that the MLAs had been entrusted with the responsibility of providing "fair and balanced" recommendations within 15 days, but added that the time could be extended as per requirement.
"The committee shall conduct its review taking into account the workload, responsibilities, and necessary resources of the legislators," Gupta said. "It is an important step towards addressing concerns related to the remuneration and facilities of legislators and enhancing their efficiency in discharging their duties," he added.
In the discussion, several MLAs from treasury and opposition benches cited their low salaries and pressed for a hike. AAP legislator Anil Jha said that MLAs were given a dignified status with a protocol, but their salaries and perks were much less than even district magistrates and SDMs in their areas. Jha, MLA from Kirari, also demanded a respectable pension for the former MLAs. His party colleague, Vishesh Ravi, said that Delhi govt should prepare a proposal for the revision of MLAs' salaries and send it for approval of the Centre. BJP MLA Kulwant Rana also said that Delhi MLAs should be paid respectable salaries like other states, including Goa.
The MLAs also demanded an increase in the number of staff provided to them for constituency related works and revising the remuneration for the data entry operators provided to them. The demand was raised by Khatri, who said the number of data entry operators provided to the MLAs should be increased from two to four. He also said that their remuneration be enhanced as per the skilled category under the Minimum Wages Act.