February,19,2017:

Central Govt found procedural defect by way of non-reference of legislative proposals to the Union Govt.

Union Home Ministry was not satisfied with "incomplete" clarifications received from the Delhi government in November 2016 on proposal to hike MLAs' salaries, prompting it to request complete information on December 15, 2016.

"A response to fresh query, which seeks to know how cost of living in Delhi has been worked out commensurate with proposed pay hike, is still awaited," stated a Senior Officer in the Central Government.

Clarifications were sought by Centre via Delhi LG's office on May 25, 2016 after he sent 'legislative proposal' on May 3 in respect of five Bills seeking to hike pay cheques of the Delhi MLAs, Ministers, Speaker and Deputy Speaker, Leader of the Opposition and Chief whip in Delhi legislative assembly.

Three key queries raised were  —

  • Rationale for steep hike, considering that no other state has given its MLAs 400% pay hike in one go;
  • how fat pay-cheque on grounds of 'high cost of living' in Delhi is offset by the limited geographical area of an assembly constituency as compared to the other states; and
  • How unprecedented hike is justified when MLA salary base in Delhi is neither low nor has it been long since it was last revised.

FIve bills have been doing rounds of  home ministry, Delhi government and LG's office for over a year now.

These bills were referred by LG in December 2015 for consideration of President without actually 'reserving' them, citing procedural defect by way of non-reference of legislative proposals to Centre.

 

Bills were returned recommending to consider these bills after due procedure is observed.

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