Staff Reporter :
The Cabinet has approved six draft amendment bills seeking to almost double the remuneration, perks and privileges of President, Prime Minister, ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, MPs, Chief Justice and judges of the Supreme Court.
The approval for the draft bills, subject to the vetting of the Law Ministry, came from the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet held at Bangladesh Secretariat on Monday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chaired the meeting.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said that all the six bills would go to the President for approval since these are Finance Bills and then those will go to the Parliament for passage. He also said that the salaries would be made effective from July 1, 2015 while the allowances from July 1, 2016.
The six bills are: The President’s (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2015, The Prime Minister’s (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2015, The Ministers, Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers’ (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2015, The Speaker and Deputy Speaker’s (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2015, The Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and The Supreme Court Judges’ (Remuneration and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
The government took the initiative to increase the remuneration and the privileges, a month after the salaries of around 14 lakh civil servants were hiked, which will also be effective from July last.
According to the draft amendments, the monthly salary of the President will go up to Tk 1,20,000 from the current amount of Tk 61,200, while that of the Prime Minister’s Tk 1,15,000 from Tk 58,600.
The insurance coverage for the President during air travel has been increased to Tk 27,00,000 from the existing 15,00,000 while that of the discretionary fund would remain at Tk 2,00,00,000.
The insurance coverage for the Prime Minister during air travel has been proposed to be Tk 25,00,000 instead of Tk 14,00,000 while that of the discretionary fund has been increased to Tk 1,50,00,000 from the existing Tk 1,00,00,000. The PM will get Tk 3000 as daily allowance instead of current Tk 1000.
The salary of the Speaker has been proposed to be Tk 1,12,000 from the existing Tk 57,200, while that of the Chief Justice Tk 1,10,000 from the existing Tk 56,000.
The salaries of Ministers alongside the Deputy Speaker, Opposition Leader in the House, Chief Whip and Appellate Division judges have been proposed to be Tk 1,05,000 instead of the existing Tk 53,100. The salaries of the High Court Division judges have been increased to Tk 95,000 from the existing Tk 49,000 while that of State Ministers, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and Whip to Tk 92,000 from the existing Tk 47,800.
The salaries of Deputy Ministers have been proposed to be Tk 86,500 from the existing Tk 45,150 while that of MPs Tk 55,000 from the existing Tk 27,500.
Besides, the expenditure allowances, house allowances in case of private houses, insurance coverage during air travel, daily allowances and discretionary fund and other allowances of the concerned have also been raised in the proposed structure.
Earlier, the remuneration, perks and privileges of President, Prime Minister, Ministers, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, MPs, Chief Justice and judges of the Supreme Court were hiked in 2005 and 2010.
