Islamabad:
The country’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, began the controversy on Wednesday when he denounced a phenomenal increase in the salaries and subsidies of the custodians of the upper and lower chambers of Parliament.
“The mass increase in salaries and financial advantages of the speaker (National Assembly), the vice president, the president of the Senate and the vice president are in the category of financial obscenity,” Asif said in a position in X.
“Please take into account the life of the common man: our honor and dignity are owed (the common man),” added the minister who belongs to the PML ruler -n.
A report that cited Fuentes said that the president of Senate Yousaf Raza Gillani, which belongs to the PPP, presided over a meeting of the Finance Committee of the House of Representatives a few months ago to approve a phenomenal increase in their own salary, as well as the vice president, Sardar Syedaal Khan Nasar, which belongs to the PML-NNA-PML-NAS.
Similarly, the president of the National Assembly, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, of the PML-N presided a meeting of the Finance Committee of the Na Chamber for an “silent” increase of the green light in its own salary and that of the president of the NA, a position in the possession of Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah of PPP.
After these approvals, the salary and the assignments received by each of the parliamentary officials increased by just over RS200,000 to around RS2 million. This controversy caused a storm with the prime minister taking note and ordering an investigation.
However, the Secretariat of the National Assembly and the Senate denied the reports that the custodians of the upper and lower chambers approved this increase on their own, claiming that only the prime minister and his cabinet have the authority to approve such increases and the government approved this increase.
A notification of the Gazette issued by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs on May 29 for the increase in the salaries of NA and the Deputy President and the President of the Senate and Vice President also stood out on Thursday.
According to this notification, amendments had been made to the Law on Wages and Assignments of the President of the Senate, while discretionary assignments had also increased by 50%.
Interestingly, the Government has also proposed an increase in salaries for members of Parliament and the Federal Cabinet in the new budget. According to the budget documents, an assignment of RS16.29 billion for the National Assembly and RS9.05 billion for the Senate has been proposed.
According to the details obtained by the Express PAkGazette, the gross salary of the president of the Supreme Court of Pakistan is RS2,815,387, while the gross salary of each judge of the Supreme Court is RS2,747,361.
The main judges of the higher courts receive a gross salary of RS2,653,418, while the total salary of each of the judges of the Superior Court is RS2,606,000.
The gross salary of a federal secretary is from RS818,000, while a main secretary obtains RS1,401,000. The salary of a police inspector is RS1,045,000, while each member of the National Assembly and the Senate receives a gross salary of RS705,000.
In the proposed budget, RS5.08 billion for salaries and assignments of the MNAs have been assigned: RS2.58 billion specifically for salaries, RS2.5 billion for travel expenses, 1.24 billion rupees for the assignments of presidents of the Permanent Committee and RS393.4 million for the salaries and assignments of the Nau Naubias and Divisores.
