Delhi Assembly passes Bill to increase salaries, allowances of its members

The AAP government has increased the salary of its MLAs from Rs 12,000 to Rs 30,000 per month

The Delhi assembly on Monday passed a Bill to increase the salary and allowances of MLAs, taking up the legislation on the first day of its two-day Monsoon session.

Kailash Gahlot, Law, Justice and Legislative Affairs Minister in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, tabled the Bill seeking an increase of 66 per cent in the salary and allowances of ministers, MLAs, chief whip, Speaker, deputy Speaker and the Leader of Opposition.

The AAP government has increased the salary from Rs 12,000 to Rs 30,000 per month. There will also be an increase in many other allowances, which altogether will raise the salary to Rs 90,000 per month from the existing Rs 54,000.

Following the change, Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said the Bill is released after a lot of deliberations in the past 7 years.

"Central government had a few objections 7 years ago; after incorporating their suggestions, Delhi Assembly has once again passed this bill and hopes for the Centre to pass it," he added.

Delhi MLAs' salary was last revised in 2011. In 2015, the Delhi government proposed Rs 2.10 lakh a month as salary and allowances for the MLAs, but the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) refused the proposal.

According to ANI report in May, Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel requested the MHA to compare the salaries with other state MLAs as he claimed many states are getting around Rs 2 lakh as the total amount.

The AAP government had sent the proposal in August in 2021 to increase the salary which was approved by the Centre in May this year. The L-G also gave the approval for the proposal last month in May which has made the way clear for tabling the bill in the assembly.