Should Delhi MLAs earn as much as other professionals?

The Delhi Assembly, on 3 December, cleared a bill which opens the door for a 400 per cent salary hike for Delhi MLAs and ministers. The Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Government of NCT of Delhi (Salaries, Allowances, Pension) Amendment Bill 2015 will not be sent to Ministry of Home Affairs for the final nod.

The recommendation was made by an independent committee of three experts according to which the salary will directly go up to Rs 2.10 lakh from Rs 88,000 per month. Plus, the annual travel allowance will go up to Rs 3 lakh from the existing Rs 50,000.

"Rather than MLAs or MPs deciding their own salaries, which has been the tradition so far, an independent committee has recommended this raise. Plus, every MLA needs money to serve people. The recommendations are reasonable and scientific. We cannot deny the need for money when it comes to serving the people," Indian Express quoted deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia as saying.

Now that the bill has been passed, it has stirred up a debate with opposition parties slamming the Aam Aadmi Party of putting an additional burden on the exchequer. Lets look at the revised salary structure and compare it with other professions.

Delhi MLA s revised salary break-up is:

Basic - Rs 50,000

Conveyance allowance- Rs 30,000

Constituency allowance- Rs 50,000

Communication allowance- Rs 10,000

Secretarial allowance- Rs 70,000

If we compare the basic salary of these MLAs with that of other professionals, this is what we find:

Assistant Professor (DU)- Rs 52,000 average

Professor (DU)- Rs 75,000 average

Administrative Officer (DU)- Rs 44,000 average

According to payscale.com, the average salary of a Chief Executive Officer working in a Delhi-based company is about Rs 3,947,316 per year.

The average salary of a Municipal of Delhi doctor is around Rs 36,000 per month, according to glassdoor.com data. This amount can be much more if we consider doctors practicing medicine in private hospitals, etc.

The data provided by lawctopus.com states that the highest salary a lawyer earns in Delhi/NCR stands at Rs 10 Lakh P/A.

Now, this shows that the basic salary of a Delhi MLA, after a four-fold increase, will almost be the same of that earned by other professionals.

However, if compared with MLAs from other states, this step will make the Delhi lawmakers the highest paid in the entire country! Currently, Himachal Pradesh legislators are most heavily paid and they get Rs 1.25 Lakh per month. Also, the salary earned by Members of Parliament including the Prime Minister is Rs 1.40 Lakh per month.

On 27 August 2010, Members of Parliament had also voted to increase their salaries threefold from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 and double their constituency and office expense allowances. Even then, they earn lesser than those who work on lower ranks in the bureaucracy.