A day after the Union Cabinet rejected a proposal to create an independent mechanism to determine the salary and allowances of MPs, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday expressed his “extreme unhappiness over this new twist” to the whole issue.The Speaker told a group of journalists at his residence that he had suggested that there should be a law in the Book of Statutes that an independent body would decide what salaries and allowances MPs should get. “It is immaterial how and when is it done,” he said, lamenting the fact that an impression has been created as if he is saying “the time has come to bring about an increase in salaries”. Upset over the Government taking a unilateral view of the matter, he said, “Since I had made the proposal, I expected some reference would be made to me.” Chatterjee is likely to express his view in the House when Parliament resumes the Budget Session on April 15.Rejecting the official explanation that it would be better to leave the decision to the next Lok Sabha, the Speaker sarcastically asked: “Would no law be passed in the one year left of the term of the present Lok Sabha? Would the House remain non-functional? What has the 14 or 15th Lok Sabha got to do with the proposal to create an independent mechanism?” he asked.Chatterjee said no democratic country, except India, has this system of MPs deciding their own salaries and allowances. Terming it “morally” wrong, he said, “I don’t want this unique arrangement to continue.” The Speaker had convened an all-party meeting on March 23, 2005. The meeting unanimously suggested the creation of an independent institutional mechanism for handling the issue. When the chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members gave him a report on May 22, 2006, he had written to the Prime Minister reiterating his suggestion on setting up an independent mechanism.The Speaker said, “I express my sorrow over the fact that a good proposal has not been accepted.” After all, he pointed, he was pushing for a law “disabling ourselves (MPs) from doing something to benefit ourselves, which should have been appreciated”.
