Through a resolution: K-P Assembly set to increase salaries of members

Lawmakers demanded equal salaries to that of Balochistan Assembly members

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly is set to increase salaries and other allowances of its members for the second time under the incumbent government. The K-P Assembly passed a joint resolution on June 23 asking the government to bring the salaries and allowances of assembly members at par with those offered to members of the Balochistan Assembly.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, an official of the K-P Assembly said the law department will draft a summary based on the resolution for the increase in salaries. He said the summary will be sent to the chief minister and Cabinet, respectively, for approval and then a bill will be made to amend the K-P Salaries, Allowances and Privileges Laws Act, 2014.

Before July 2014, each member of the assembly received a monthly salary of Rs35,000. However, after the amendment in July 2014, their salaries were increased to Rs91,800 per month and all allowances are now paid to them on a quarterly basis. After the proposed amendment, their salaries will increase up to Rs156,000 per month.

“What is objectionable here is that the assembly is proposing to increase salaries a second time during this tenure,” the official said.

Basis of comparison

While comparing the salaries of lawmakers in both assemblies, the official said a K-P Assembly member is receiving Rs18,000 as salary, Rs30,000 as rental allowance, Rs10,000 as sumptuary allowance, Rs4,800 as utility allowance and Rs9,000 as medical allowance in a month. On the other hand, members of the Balochistan Assembly are receiving Rs60,000 as salary, Rs50,000 as rental allowance, Rs20,000 as utility allowance and Rs6,000 as sumptuary allowance.



“The members of the Balochistan Assembly do not get medical allowance but their other allowances are disproportionately large,” the official said. Members of the K-P Assembly receive Rs120,000 as an ‘additional travel allowance (TA) within Pakistan’ per annum. The allowances are paid on a quarterly basis over the year. On the other hand, members of the Balochistan Assembly are receiving Rs500,000 as additional TA while Rs1.2 million as a discretionary grant per annum. The equivalent of this discretionary grant, however, does not exist in the K-P Assembly.

The official also said that, due to these increases, the provincial exchequer will have to bear an additional Rs211.5 million per year. The salary of each member of the assembly will increase by Rs64,200 per month, while their additional TA will increase by Rs380,000, and they will also start getting Rs1.2 million as discretionary grant.

The Balochistan Assembly’s travel allowance/daily allowance (TA/DA) is greater than that of K-P Assembly. The daily allowance for Baluchistan Assembly members is Rs4,000 while, in K-P, it is Rs1,000. Similarly, the daily conveyance allowance for Balochistan Assembly members is Rs3,000, while, in K-P assembly, it is Rs640. The K-P assembly members will also get Rs1,600 per day as an accommodation allowance in the next session.

The official also said the Balochistan Assembly only has 65 members, including Cabinet members, ministers, advisers, special assistants and parliamentary secretaries.

“We have a total of 124 seats,” the official said. “If we subtract the Cabinet, the speaker and the deputy speaker, then we are only left with 90 members who will be provided with all the perks and salaries if the increase is executed.”

Senior Additional Secretary Kifayatullah Afridi called it a mere ‘will’ of the house members which they intimated to the government by passing the resolution.

“It is up to the government whether it will amend the act or not keeping its implications,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2016.