ISLAMABAD – Parliamentary Affairs Division of Pakistan has increased thethe daily allowance of Parliamentarians by 71%.
The lawmakers will now enjoy an increased DA of Rs. 3,000 (previously Rs1,750) and Rs. 4,800 (previously Rs 2,800) at the ordinary and specialrate, respectively.
The allowance increase was demanded by the members of the parliament inaccordance with the increase in the DA of civil servants.
From now on, the members of the parliament, along with the chairperson,deputy chairperson, speaker, deputy speaker, parliamentary secretaries andchairmen of standing committees, will enjoy the daily allowance equivalentto that of a grade-22 officer of the federal government.
The salary structure of the members of parliament including the Senate’schairperson, deputy chairperson and National Assembly Speaker, deputyspeaker and all the other appointees, is decided by the Members ofParliament (Salaries and Allowances) Act 1974.
While justifying the recent increase in the daily allowance of the members,a senior official of the Parliamentary Affairs Division quoted the Section14b of the Act:
Salaries, allowances, and privileges of members shall automatically beincreased by the federal government by a notification in the officialgazette in proportion to the increase in emoluments of civil servants.
In accordance with last year’s allowance increase, which was approved forthe civil servants from BS-1 to BS-22 grades on July 3, 2017, the raise hadto be implemented for the parliamentarians.
The cabinet, after approving the arguments, has passed the ruling in favorof the Parliamentary Affairs Division for an increase in both the ordinaryand special daily allowance of the members.
Previously, the cabinet also approved an increase in salaries of allMembers of the Parliament on 23 November 2016, under the supervision of theformer Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.