For over six months now, President Pranab Muk- herjee has been drawing less salary than a Joint Secretary in the Government of India as a proposal to increase the salaries of the President, the Vice-President and Governors has been gathering dust in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The Home Ministry had proposed an increase in the salary of the President from the current ₹1.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh per month. Similarly for the Vice-President, the proposal was to increase the salary from ₹1.1 lakh to ₹3.5 lakh per month.
Though the file to increase the salary of the two constitutional posts was moved six months ago, it was stuck in the PMO, an official said. Queries to the PMO went unanswered. The boost in salary is commensurate with the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, implemented last year.
The Commission gave its report to the government in 2016 and proposed an average increase of 14% in salaries of all government employees. The Commission submits its report once every 10 years.
“When we realised that the President is drawing a salary less than even a Director-level officer in the Government of India, we calculated the hike to be ₹5 lakh. The Cabinet Secretary, the seniormost in the government hierarchy, gets ₹2.5 lakh currently,” said a senior government official.
An official said the delay in processing the proposal could be due to a similar proposal to hike the salaries of parliamentarians — as recommended by a joint committee on salaries and allowances of members of Parliament — meeting with severe criticism.
The committee headed by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Yogi Adityanath had recommended a hike in salary of the MPs from current ₹1.4 lakh a month to ₹2.8 lakh a month.
“Once the PMO clears the files pertaining to the President’s salary, it will be sent to the Parliament for approval before getting a sanction from the union Cabinet,” said the official.
