Pay hike for Ministers/MLAs under process
Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Assam government is in the mood for hiking the salaries of its ministers and MLAs at a time when the commoners in the state have to pay through their noses in the face of inflation.
With the Assam Assembly Speaker already forming the Pay Committee of the Assam Legislative Assembly, in consultation with the Finance and Parliamentary Affairs departments, the process for legislator salary hikes is in the process. The Pay Committee has already had its first meeting on July 8, 2024.
According to the official notification, the Pay Committee of the State Assembly has four members: Himangshu Sekhar Das, former Additional Chief Secretary to the State Government, as the chairman; Hemen Das, former Principal Secretary to the Assam Legislative Assembly, as a member; Malavika Choudhury, Secretary to the State Government, Finance (PRU) Department, as a member; and Rajib Bhattacharyya, Additional Secretary to the Assam Legislative Assembly, as the member secretary.
The terms of reference of the Committee, according to the notification, will be: (i) to examine and recommend changes in the entitlement of salary, allowances, and other facilities to the Speaker, Chief Minister, Ministers, Ministers of State, Assam, the Deputy Speaker, the leader of the opposition, and members and ex-members of the Assam Legislative Assembly.
(ii) To examine the existing amenities and facilities, such as pensions, family pensions, sitting allowances, travel allowances, daily allowances, convenience allowances, etc., as they are considered desirable and feasible.
(iii) To examine the entitlement of pensions, family pensions, and other facilities to the ex-members of the Assam Legislative Assembly, as well as such other connected and incidental matters as may be referred to the Committee by the Speaker.
The Committee will devise its own working procedure; it may also call for such information and take such evidence as may be considered necessary.
The Pay Committee will submit its reports with its recommendations to the Amenities Committee, Assam Legislative Assembly, within a month after the formation of the Pay Committee.
According to sources, with the process of raising the salaries of legislators underway, the Pay Committee will collect the structure pay and other packages of the legislators of other assemblies in the country. It will also keep an eye on the current price index in the state. The committee will finalise its recommendations and submit them to the Speaker, who will forward them to the amenities committees of the state assembly for their views. The views of this committee are a must for the Speaker to send the recommendations to the government for consideration. If the government agrees to the recommendations, it will introduce a bill in the Assembly in this regard.
The salaries of the legislators of the State Assembly were hiked last in 2018.
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