PESHAWAR: A Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly committee has recommended a 25 per cent increase in all allowances of the lawmakers and the grant of two new allowances of Rs50,000 and Rs21,000 each for the hiring of constituency assistants and orderlies respectively by them.

The recommendation was made by the house’s special committee on the salaries and allowances of the speaker, deputy speaker, ministers and members of provincial assembly headed by food minister Mohammad Atif Khan.

In a report to be submitted to the house and a copy of which is available with Dawn, the committee proposed that the MPAs be allowed a new allowance of Rs50,000 for hiring constituency assistants.

Also, it proposed Rs21,000 allowance for the hiring of orderlies by the lawmakers.

It also proposed 25 per cent hike in all existing allowance of the members and an increase in the deputy speaker’s daily allowance from the existing Rs750 to Rs1,500.

Payments also proposed for MPAs to hire orderlies, constituency assistants

“The government should take immediate steps in light of these recommendations to amend the relevant laws,” it said.

The 11-member committee met in August, Sept and Oct.

According to its report, the comparison of pay related sections MPAs with BS-20 and above government employees showed that increase in pay and other allowances was inevitable due to technical reasons.

The report quoted MPA of the opposition JUI-F Lutfur Rehman as saying in the committee’s meetings that in developed world, lawmakers are provided services of assistants or paid allowances for hiring services of people themselves.

He said though the province’s economic situation was not that good, it was the basic right of lawmakers.

The committee discussed the proposal and agreed to include a new allowance of Rs50,000 for hiring a constituency assistant besides agreeing to Rs21,000 in lieu of orderly allowance in members’ salaries.

Additional secretary of the finance department Safeer Ahmad also told the committee that the basic pay scales were for government employees.

He said the pay and perks of lawmakers should not be ‘compared or gauged’ with the government employees’ scales.

Mr Safeer said that all the government employees were answerable before the elected members of house. He also said that speaker, deputy speaker, provincial ministers and MPAs had constitutional and legal role which does not fall in the bracket of government employees’ pay scales.

Besides insertion of two new allowances for constituency assistant and orderly, the committee also proposed 25 per cent increase in seven existing allowances through an amendment in KP (Salaries and Allowances of Members) Act 1974.

Following its recommendations, the sumptuary allowance will be raised by Rs2,500 to Rs12,500.

The committee proposed Rs30,000 increase in the lawmakers’ additional travelling allowance, Rs2,500 each in lieu of telephone and office maintenance allowance, Rs1,200 utility allowance, Rs7,500 house rent allowance and Rs2,250 in medical allowance.

Similarly, the speaker’s sumptuary allowance was proposed to be increased by Rs5,000, medical allowance Rs4,500, house rent allowance Rs17,500 and additional travelling allowance Rs50,000 per year.

The committee recommended an increase in the deputy speaker’s sumptuary allowance by Rs2,500, medical allowance by Rs3,750, house rent Rs13,750 and additional traveling allowance of Rs3.500 per annum. For ministers, Rs3,750 hike in sumptuary allowance and Rs17,500 of the house rent was proposed.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2021