Karnataka Assembly passes bills to hike salary of CM, Mins, legislators

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed bills enhancing salaries and allowances of Chief Minister, Ministers and legislators. Faced by disruption for the fifth consecutive day, due to protest by Congress MLAs, demanding the sacking of Minister K S Eshwarappa over his statement on the national flag, the session was cut short, but not before passing two bills without discussion.

The session that began on February 14 was actually scheduled to conclude on February 25. It has now been adjourned till March 4, for the budget session. Congress legislators have been staging 'day-and-night' protests, whereby they spent the night inside the Assembly, and staged demonstrations from the well of the House during the day, thereby disrupting the proceedings, which Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai termed as "irresponsible".

Amidst the din, the House passed the two bills- The Karnataka Ministers Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and The Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pensions and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and adopted the motion of thanks to Governor's address, without any discussion. The bills were moved by the government citing that they are long pending and a considerable increase in the cost of living as the reasons. The hikes will result in a recurring, additional expenditure of approximately Rs 92.4 crore per annum.

The bill on Ministers salaries and allowances proposes to increase the salary of the Chief Minister from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 per month, salary of Ministers from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000, and sumptuary allowance for both will be increased from Rs three lakh to Rs 4.50 lakh per annum.

It also proposes to increase the house rent allowance of Ministers from Rs 80,000 per month to Rs 1.20 lakh, while allowance for maintenance and upkeep of residence and layout and maintenance of gardens has been increased from Rs 20,000 per month to

Rs 30,000.