MPAs in rare consensus on their salary revision

Punjab Assembly passes finance bill with majority

LAHORE:

As the provincial assembly passed the Punjab Finance Bill 2024 with majority vote, the treasury and opposition members appeared to be on the same page regarding the authority to revise salaries and allowances of the MPAs in a similar way as the judiciary and executive having their own mechanisms.

Before the government business was taken up, opposition lawmaker Rana Aftab, on a point of order, asked how the government could increase the salaries and allowance of the MPAs when the judiciary, executive and other authorities had their own mechanisms.

He said it was the propagative of the speaker t o increase the salaries as the custodian of the house.

He said the members should not be left at the mercy of the government and the speaker’s office could receive funds from the government and increase the salaries of the MPAs.

PML-N’s Raja Shaukat seconded the stance and demanded that MPAs should be treated in a similar way as mentioned in the Blue Book.

The ruling party’s Sami Ullah Khan said if the members were not treated as public representatives then it should be decided which grade should be given to them.

The opposition’s Ahmar Rasheed Bhatti said the judiciary decided about its own salaries and allowances, so parliament should also acquire the power.