Rajasthan Assembly passes bill to hike pension for MLAs

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Legislative Assembly has passed a Bill to hike allowances for all sitting MLAs and those who have been members of the House since April 1, 2012.

The Bill was passed during the Budget Session of the House last night before the Assembly was adjourned sine die and will be implemented with effect from April 1, 2015.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had earlier announced an increase in pension and constituency allowance in the House on March 26.

While the minimum monthly pension of those who have been MLAs since April 1, 2012 have been hiked to Rs. 15,000 from the present amount of Rs 7,500, constituency allowance of sitting legislators have been increased to Rs 50,000 from the current grant of Rs 40,000.

The provisions, under Rajasthan Legislative Assembly (Officers and Members Emoluments and Pensions) Amendment Bill-2015, will involve recurring expenditure of about Rs 7.98 crore per annum.

The Budget Session of the Assembly started on February 25 and had 26 sittings- the highest in 20 years, during which 23 Bills were passed by the House.