Islamabad:
The country’s defense minister, Khawaja Asif, started the controversy on Wednesday when he decorated a phenomenal increase in wages and quotas for the parents of the upper and lower parliamentary houses.
“The huge increase in wages and the financial perks from the (National Assembly) speaking, Vice President, Senate President and Deputy Chairman falls under the category of financial indeteness,” Asif said in a speech on X.
“Remember the ordinary man’s life in mind – our honor and dignity are due to all of him (the ordinary man),” added the minister, who belongs to the reigning PML.
A report citing sources, said Senate President Yousaf Raza Gillani, who belongs to PPP, President of a meeting of House Finance Committee a few months back to approve a phenomenal increase in his own salary as well as for vice president, Sardar Syedaal Khan Nasar, which belongs to PML-N
Similarly, the National Assembly’s speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq of PML-N President of a meeting of NA’s House Finance Committee was to “quiet” Greenlight an increase in his own salary and the na-vice president, a post by PPP’s Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah.
After these approvals, wages and quotas received by each of the parliamentary officials increased from slightly more than RS200,000 to around RS2 million. This controversy whipped a storm with the prime minister who noticed and ordered a study.
However, the National Assembly and the Senate Secretariat later denied reports that the parents of the upper and lower houses approved this increase on their own and claimed that only the Prime Minister and his cabinet have the authority to approve such trips and the government approved this increase.
A Gazette message issued by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs on May 29 for the increase in wages for the NA speaker and Vice President and Senate Chairman and Deputy Chairman also came at the forefront on Thursday.
According to this notification, changes had been changed in wages and quotas for the speaker and the chairman of the Senate, while estimated quotas had also been increased by 50%.
Interestingly, the government has also proposed an increase in wages for MPs and the federal cabinet of the new budget. According to the budget documents, an award of RS16.29 billion has been proposed to the National Assembly and RS9.05 billion for the Senate.
According to the details obtained by Express Pakinomist, Chief Justice of Pakistan’s gross salary is RS2.815,387, while the gross salary for each Supreme Court judge is RS2,747,361.
The most important judge at high courts receives a gross salary of RS2.653,418, while the total salary for each of the Supreme Court judges is RS2,606,000.
The brutal salary of a federal secretary is RS818,000, while a chief secretary receives RS1,401,000. The salary for an inspector for the police 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 has been awarded for wages and quotas for MNAs – RS2.58 billion specifically for wages, RS2.5 billion for travel expenses, RS1.24 billion to standing committee chairman and RS393.4 million for wages and quotas for the NA speaker and steps.
