Kerala Assembly. Photo: manorama Thiruvananthapuram: It seems that the MLAs of Kerala assembly have been blessed with the best of both worlds with the Justice James commission recommendations. The commission has proposed a hike of 30% in the salary of MLAs. The other day, the assembly cleared the deck to double the advance amount for house building and vehicle purchase for MLAs. With the new recommendations, the salary of a legislator will go up to Rs 80,000 per month, including perks. At present, MLAs are drawing a salary of Rs 39,500 per month. The committee also advised to bring down certain allowances enjoyed by the MLAs.
The James Commission was constituted two months ago after the elected members of Kerala assembly cried foul over their low payment when compared to their counterparts in other states. The commission formulated its recommendations after seeking opinion and suggestions from the MLAs, former legislators and the public alike. The commission handed over its report to the chief minister and the speaker.
The panel, headed by retired high court judge and former secretary of Kerala assembly Justice J.M.James, was mandated to review and reform the salaries and allowances given to ministers, speaker, deputy speaker, leader of opposition, govt. chief whip, legislators and former legislators.
An assembly sub-committee had recently decided to increase the advance amount which can be allotted to MLAs for house construction to Rs 20 lakhs and purchasing a vehicle to Rs 10 lakhs. Besides this, the allowances of the additional personal assistants of the MLAs were also hiked. The decision enjoys a retrospective effect from 20 June, 2016.
Legislative salary scale across the country
Topping the list is Telangana, paying its MLAs the thickest pay-packets in the country. They get a whopping Rs 2.50 lakhs per month. This is against the average monthly salary of Rs 1.10 lakh per state legislator in the country. Members of the Manipur assembly are the lowest paid, with just Rs 18,500 a month. In Tripura, it is Rs 24, 200 per month.
Last month, the Tamil Nadu assembly had almost doubled the salary of its members from Rs 55,000 to Rs 1.05 lakhs. It also raised the local area development fund for each legislator to Rs 2.5 crore. The pay scale of chief minister, ministers, speaker, deputy speaker and leader of opposition also saw a similar hike.
In last August, before adjourning its monsoon session, the Maharashtra assembly made it a point to pass the pay reform bill of the legislators. The bill proposed to double the salary and allowances of MLAs and MLCs upto Rs 1.5lakh per month.
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