Salaries of Ministers, MLAs to be Hiked in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 20: A bill seeking to substantially hike the salaries and allowances of Ministers and MLAs was introduced in the Kerala Assembly today. The state would incur an additional recurring expenditure of approximately Rs.5.25 crore per year due to the proposed increase, that would also cover pension.

Once passed, the revision, based on the recommendation of Justice (ret) J M James Commission, would come into effect from April 1. It was stated in the bill that hike was being sought in view of increase in the cost of living.

State Law Minister A K Balan moved the bill which seeks to increase the salary and allowances and pension of the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, Ministers and legislators.

As per the revision, salaries of Ministers and others would go up from Rs.1,000 to Rs.2,000 while their constituency allowances from Rs.12,000 to Rs.40,000.

The conveyance allowance of Ministers and others is being raised from Rs.10,000 per month to Rs.17,000.

In the case of legislators, the rate of fixed allowance would be increased by Rs.1,000 to Rs 2,000. The constituency allowance of MLAs would more than double to Rs 25,000 per month from existing Rs.12,000.

The bill also seeks to introduce a new provision for air travel allowance for MLAs inside and outside the state for attending assembly committee meetings, subject to a maximum of Rs.50,000 per annum.

With regard to the financial implication of the revision, the bill stated that the state would incur an additional recurring expenditure of approximately Rs.5.25 crore per year.

A separate bill to hike pension amount of former MLAs by an average Rs.1,000 as per the number of years they served was also presented in the assembly.

The maximum pension in the aggregate has been fixed at Rs.50,000 per month from the existing Rs.35,000.

The House referred both the bills to the subject committee and it is likely to return for passing next week.