Arvind Kejriwal

There appears to be no end for trouble for the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi. A day after the Delhi HC ruled that the LG was the administrative head of Delhi comes news of another jolt to Arvind Kejriwal’s ambitious plans of according a 400 per cent hike in salaries for the city’s MLAs, besides a hefty increase in perks and allowances.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, it is learnt, has returned the bill providing for a 400 per cent pay hike for MLAs and ministers besides hefty increase in perks and allowances back to the city government.

According to a report in Economic Times, the MHA has also sought clarification from the government through Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on the bill -- Member of Legislative Assembly of NCT of Delhi (salaries, allowances, pension etc) Amendment Bill, 2015.

“We have raised few 'curable' and 'non-curable' queries. During our discussion with other central departments, clarification was sought regarding the calculation which was performed to arrive at the figures mentioned in the bill. It is not clear what method has been used to calculate the salaries for MLA and Speaker,” a senior government official was quoted as saying in the ET report.

In December last year, the Delhi Assembly had approved a 400 per cent pay hike for MLAs and ministers. The House had accepted the recommendations made by an independent committee of three experts, constituted to look into the matter and compare the salary of MLAs from various states.

The monthly package of MLAs has been increased from Rs 88,000 to Rs 2.10 lakh per month, while their annual travelling allowance has been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh per year. While the MLAs could earlier avail the allowance only for trips in India, now they can use it to travel abroad as well.

As per provisions of the Bill, Delhi MLAs will get a basic salary of Rs 50,000, constituency allowance of Rs 50,000, conveyance allowance of Rs 30,000, communication allowance of up to Rs 10,000 and secretarial allowance of Rs 70,000. The basic salary of ministers has been increased from Rs 20,000 to Rs 80,000 and their constituency allowance has been increased from Rs 18,000 to Rs 50,000.

Apart from a few special allowances, the Assembly Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, the Chief Whip and Leader of Opposition would get salary and allowances at par with the ministers.

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