With the governor giving assent to the Bill, the salaries of MLAs will get 64 per cent rise, from Rs 70,727 to Rs 1.16 lakh
Lawmakers in Gujarat will celebrate this Diwali with a raised salary after the Governor, OP Kohli, passed the Bill on Thursday evening. The festivals kick off in the state in the first week of November and the MLAs will receive their salaries on the first day of the month.
With the governor giving assent to the Bill, the salaries of MLAs will get 64 per cent rise, from Rs 70,727 to Rs 1.16 lakh, while that of ministers, speaker, deputy speaker, and the leader of the opposition will go up by 54 per cent from Rs 86,000 to Rs 1.32 lakh.
Gujarat Salaries and Allowances of Members, Speakers and Deputy Speakers of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, Ministers and Leader of Opposition Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 had been passed unanimously in the state Assembly on September 19. The BJP government had defended the salary hike Bill by saying that pay had not been revised since 2005. While the previous pay structure took the basic salary of an undersecretary as the criterion to determine the remuneration of MLAs and office-bearers, the new Bill will determine pay by basing it on the basic salary of the deputy secretary.
Seven Bills were passed during the monsoon session of the Assembly convened last month. Of the seven, the Governor has given assent to six Bills while one was referred to the President of India, said Legislative Affairs Secretary KM Lala.
"There was a Bill about amending a certain Section of the Indian Penal Code. The Bill was sent to the President. All other Bills were approved by the Governor" said Lala.
He was referring to a Bill to amend certain provisions of IPC section 379, which deals with the punishment for theft. Through the Bill, the state government had proposed to increase the jail term for chain-snatching offences from three years to seven years along with a fine of Rs 25,000.
BILLS CLEARED
Bills related to raising the penalty for schools operating without registration, setting up of a biotechnology university, and revising certain provisions of the GST were cleared as well
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