The President and the Vice- President continue to get less salaries than top bureaucrats and the chiefs of the armed forces because the laws are yet to be amended to rectify an anomaly in the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations.
More than a year ago, the Home Ministry prepared a plan for increasing the salaries of the President, the Vice-President and the Governors and forwarded it to the Cabinet Secretariate for the approval of the Union Cabinet, an official of the Ministry said . But no decision had been taken yet.
At present, the President draws ₹1.50 lakh a month, the Vice-President ₹1.25 lakh and a Governor ₹1.10 lakh.
After the Seventh Pay Commission’s recommendations were implemented on January 1, 2016, the Cabinet Secretary, the country’s top-most bureaucrat, gets ₹2.5 lakh a month and a Secretary in the Union government ₹2.25 lakh.
The President is the supreme commander of the Army, the Indian Air Force, and the Navy. But his salary is less than those of the chiefs of the three forces, who earn a sum equivalent to the Cabinet Secretary’s.
The government spokesperson did not respond to messages regarding the delay in clearing the plan to increase the President’s salary to ₹5 lakh, the Vice-President’s to ₹3.5 lakh and a Governor’s to ₹3 lakh. When the Cabinet approves the proposal, a Bill will be tabled in Parliament, the official said.
