BENGALURU: The state government is all set to increase the salary and other allowances of the CM, ministers, speaker of the Assembly, chairman of the Council, and MLAs and MLCs by over 100%.
The monthly pension of former legislators is also likely to go up. Government sources said that a draft proposal in this regard has been sent from the Law and Parliamentary Affairs Department to the governor’s office. Only after the governor’s approval, the Karnataka Ministers’ Salaries and Allowances (amendment) Bill will be tabled in both Houses for approval.
“We are yet to get a communication from the governor’s office. We are not sure whether the Bill will be placed during this session itself,’’ the sources said.
The Mysore Ministers’ Salaries and Allowances Act, 1956, has been amended several times after Karnataka state came into being. It has been replaced with the Karnataka Ministers’ Salaries and Allowances Act. It was amended in 2022. According to this Act, the CM’s salary is Rs 75,000 and ministers’ Rs 60,000 a month along with a sumptuary allowance of Rs 4.5 lakh.
The government now wants to increase the salary of the CM to Rs 1.5 lakh and that of ministers to Rs 1.25 lakh and their sumptuary allowance to Rs 5 lakh.
Similarly, the government wants to increase the salary of MLAs and MLCs from Rs 40,000 to Rs 80,000. It has proposed to increase the constituency travel allowance from Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000, miscellaneous allowances, including telephone, postal and other expenses - which is Rs 85,000 - to Rs 1.1 lakh. The government wants to increase the annual rail/air fare from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3.5 lakh a year.
The government has proposed to increase the pension of MLAs and MLCs from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 per month, and the salary of the Assembly speaker and Council chairman from Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.25 lakh per month and their sumptuary allowance from Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.
The government wants to increase the house rent allowance from Rs 1.6 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh. It also wants to increase the salary of the deputy speaker, deputy chairman and leaders of opposition from Rs 60,000 to Rs 80,000, their sumptuary allowance from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, and the chief whip’s salary from Rs 50,000 to Rs 70,000.