The Cabinet on Monday approved six drafts of bills proposing raising pays and benefits of the President, Prime Minister, Speaker, Chief Justice, Ministers and Deputy Speaker, and Appellate Division and High Court Division Judges, State Ministers, Deputy Ministers and parliament members to almost double.
The approval was given on Monday subject to vetting of the Law Ministry at the regular Cabinet meeting held at Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The six bills were prepared amending 'The
President's (Remuneration and Privileges) Act', The Prime Minister's (Remuneration and Privileges) Act', 'The Ministers, Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers' (Remuneration and Privileges) Act,' 'The Speaker and Deputy Speaker's (Remuneration and Privileges) Act,' 'The Members' of Parliament (Remuneration and Allowances) Act,' and 'The Supreme Court Judges' (Remuneration and Privileges) Act'.
The bills were prepared to hike the remunerations, privileges and allowances of the constitutional position holder persons following the previous practice of increasing their benefits after approval of new pay scale, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists at a briefing after the meeting.
The government took the initiative to increase the benefits a month after the salaries of government employees were hiked.
The new pay-structure for the government employees would come into effect from last July after issuance of the gazette that is likely to be issued by November first week.
The benefits of the President, Prime Minister, Speaker, Chief Justice, Ministers and Deputy Speaker, and Appellate Division and High Court Division Judges, State Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Parliament members will also come into effect from last July, he added.
The Cabinet Secretary said all the six bills will go to the President for approval since these are Finance Bills and then those will go to Parliament. The salaries will be made effective from July 1, 2015 while the allowances from July 1, 2016.
According to the drafts, the monthly salary of the President will go up to Tk1.2 lakh from the current amount of Tk61,200 while that of the Prime Minister's to Tk1.15 lakh from Tk58,600.
The insurance coverage for the President during air travel has been increased to Tk27 lakh from existing 15 lakh while that of the discretionary fund will remain at Tk2 crore.
The insurance coverage for the Prime Minister during air travel has also been proposed to be Tk25 lakh instead of Tk14 lakh while that of the discretionary fund has been increased to Tk1.5 crore from existing Tk1 crore.
The salary of the Speaker has been proposed to be Tk1.12 lakh from the existing Tk57,200 while that of the Chief Justice Tk1.10 lakh from existing Tk56,000.
The salaries of ministers alongside the Deputy Speaker, Opposition Leader in the House, Chief Whip and Appellate Division Judges were proposed to be Tk1.05 lakh against existing Tk53,100.
The salaries of High Court Division Judges have been increased to Tk95,000 from existing Tk49,000 while that of State Ministers, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, and Whip to Tk 92,000 from the existing Tk47,800.
The salaries of Deputy Ministers have been proposed to be Tk86,500 from existing Tk45,150 while that of parliament members Tk55,000 from existing Tk27,500.
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.
About the background of raising salaries of the President, Prime Minister and other concerned, the Cabinet Secretary said whenever the salaries and allowances of the public servants are revised, salaries and allowances of those in constitutional posts are also revised afterwards.
Bhuian said the relevant government order of the eighth national pay scale for the public servants alongside the military personnel is likely to be published within this month or by the first week of November.
The Cabinet Secretary said the Cabinet on Monday was apprised about a position paper regarding the age limit of retirement of those engaged in scientific research.
In this connection, the Cabinet directed the authorities concerned to review the related policy of the neighbouring countries and bring again a specific proposal.
The meeting also approved a proposal for sending the 'Money Laundering Prevention (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015' that was issued early in last week to the Parliament at the earliest for making it a law.
Besides, the Cabinet was apprised that Bangladesh has become the chair of Global Forum on Migration and Development for 2016, the International Mother Language Institute in Dhaka has been upgraded to the 2nd category from the 3rd category by Unesco and Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman has become the 'Central Bank Governor of the Year 2015 for Asia'. The Cabinet expressed its satisfaction at these achievements.