Delhi MLAs get raise after 2011, still among lowest-paid in India

The Delhi cabinet on Tuesday approved salary hike for MLAs in accordance with the Centre’s proposal, the government said in a press statement

NEW DELHI: The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) has approved an increase of the salary and allowances of Delhi’s lawmakers to ₹90,000 a month, excluding reimbursements a 66.67% increase from the current ₹54,000 , although this is far lower than the raise sought by the Delhi government. Officials familiar with the matter said the matter will be discussed in a cabinet meeting chaired by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday.

The quantum of the raise, the first since 2011, will mean that Delhi’s lawmakers remain among the lowest paid in the country. In Uttar Pradesh for instance, a legislator’s monthly salary and allowances add up to ₹95,000 a month; in Gujarat, ₹1,05,000; in Bihar, ₹1,30,000; in Rajasthan, ₹1,42,500; in Haryana, ₹1,55,000; and in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, ₹1,98,000 and ₹1,90,000 respectively.

Telangana pays its lawmakers ₹2,50,000 a month.

In addition to the current salary, Delhi’s lawmakers are also eligible for reimbursements worth at least ₹34,000.

Speaker Ram Niwas Goel said salaries of all ministers -- seven, including the chief minister -and the speaker, deputy speaker, chief whip and leader of opposition of the Delhi assembly have also been increased in the same proportion. At present, all of them are entitled to ₹1.20 lakh per month.

“Whatever the Delhi government had asked for, the Centre accepted only about 40% of it... It could either accept or reject the Centre’s proposal. So, the city administration has no option but to accept it,” said Goel.

The increase approved by MHA is likely to open up a new front in hostilities between the Union government and Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. The latter sought an increase in basic salary of lawmakers from ₹12,000 to ₹50,000, but MHA has increased it to ₹30,000.

“The Delhi government is dissatisfied with what has been approved by the Centre,” Delhi government officials said on condition of anonymity.

Including reimbursements, they pointed out, the Delhi government sought an increase from ₹88,000 a month to ₹2.1 lakh. Now that MHA has approved a lower raise, the discussion at the meeting tomorrow will be to decide the future course of action, one of the officials added. According to this person, the Delhi government will likely raise salaries in accordance with MHA’s approval immediately.

Officials from the MHA did not respond to requests seeking comment.

A senior Delhi government official, on condition of anonymity, said the Centre had sent this proposal to Delhi in March, 2020, but the Delhi government did not respond then due to the back-to-back Covid-19 waves that hit the national capital. “So, in July, the file was set in motion again and tomorrow (Tuesday) it will be discussed in the Cabinet,” the official said.

Members of Parliament currently earn Rs 230,000 a month in salary and allowances.

Salaries and allowances of Delhi MLAs were last increased 10 years ago. The Delhi Assembly in 2015 approved a bill to increase the salary and allowances of MLAs by 400%, but the MHA did not approve this. The Delhi government in 2018 formed a six-member committee to take up the issue of salary hike of MLAs with the Centre. In March this year, the chairperson of this committee, AAP’s Greater Kailash MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj, said it was recommending to the Union government that the salaries and allowances be raised by 138.6% at the least.

Rituraj Govind, AAP MLA from Kirari, said the increase does not factor inflation. “I have been an MLA since 2015 in Delhi and I can easily say we have to pay a lot from our own pockets on two major things: fuel and social events. Fuel costs have increased so much that the revised amount of ₹10,000 will not suffice. Every month, I have to spend at least ₹20,000 on fuel because as MLA we have to keep going to every corner of our constituency,” he said. Govind added that he spends money out of his pocket on gifts when he is invited to social events.

Sanjeev Jha, AAP MLA from Burari, said, “The salary is not enough so I arrange a lot of things through crowd sourcing. For example, someone offered his shop out of goodwill and I have set up an office there. There is no other way out.”

SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES OF DELHI MLAS WERE LAST INCREASED 10 YEARS AGO, IN 2011