Delhi assembly clears bills to hike salaries of lawmakers

Five bills seeking a hike in salaries and allowances for Delhi ministers, MLAs and others were passed by the Delhi assembly after a thorough debate on Monday during which the bills were supported by ruling AAP MLAs as well as the opposition BJP MLAs. The bills were tabled in the morning when the first day of the two-day assembly session began.

At the end of the discussion, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia backed the move and said that people should have slightly more income than their requirements. “The proposal is to increase the (basic) salary from ₹12,000 to ₹30,000. The success of an institution depends on the quality of talent and for talent retention money is important. Talent promotion in politics is very important and the salary is a key component of this. For Delhi MLAs the salary and allowances are being increased from ₹54,000 pm to ₹90,000 pm. We should thank the taxpayers whose money is used for the salary that we get, and accept the proposal,” Sisodia said backing the proposals.

Minister for law, justice and legislative affairs Kailash Gahlot tabled the five salary and allowances amendment bills in the assembly on Monday for hiking the salary and allowances of Delhi government ministers, speaker and deputy speaker, leader of opposition, chief whip and members of the House.

The bills proposed a 66.67% salary hike for Delhi lawmakers, who are among the lowest-paid legislators in India. Now the path has been cleared for lawmakers in Delhi to get paid ₹90,000 a month, up from the existing ₹54,000. The salary and allowances of chief minister and ministers, speaker, deputy speaker, chief whip and the leader of opposition will increase from the existing ₹72,000 to ₹170,000, an official in Delhi assembly said.

The MLAs and others will have to wait a little longer before the hike comes into effect. Now the bills will be sent for the approval of the President. “The assembly secretariat will forward the Bill to the department of law, justice and legislative affairs of the Delhi government which will then forward it to the LG’s office from where it will be sent to the President through the Union ministry of home affairs,” said another assembly official who asked not to be named.

Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who supported the bills, said if required he will take a delegation of AAP MLAs to meet the President to request him to approve the bills so that the salary and allowances are increased. It will be for the first time in 11 years that salary and allowances of Delhi legislators will increase.

The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA), in the first week of May, signed off on the increase, paving the way for the revision. HT first reported on Thursday that the Delhi government was going to bring in the bills in the assembly after the LG gave his approval for the introduction of the bills in the House.

In December 2015, the Delhi government proposed ₹2.10 lakh a month as salary and allowances for the MLAs, but the MHA did not agree with the proposal and the salary could not be hiked. In August 2021, the MHA approved an increase in salary and allowances of Delhi’s lawmakers to ₹90,000 a month, excluding reimbursements, a 66.67% increase, from the current ₹54,000.

According to an AAP leader, MLAs in Telangana have a salary of ₹2.5 lakh a month, those in Maharashtra ₹2.32 lakh, MLAs in Uttar Pradesh earn a salary of ₹1.87 lakh, in Jammu & Kashmir it is ₹1.6 lakh, in Uttarakhand it is ₹1.6 lakh, ₹1.3 lakh in Andhra Pradesh, ₹1.17 lakh in Goa.