The state’s constitutional office holders – including the president, chief justice, prime minister, speaker of the house, leader of the opposition, ministers and members of parliament – will receive a roughly 100% raise starting this year.
Cabinet yesterday approved six proposals to double the renumeration and privileges of the president, prime minister and others holding constitutional positions, to be consistent with the pay upgrades for civil servants contained in the Eighth Pay Scale.
Cabinet Secretary Muhammad Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan disclosed the details to reporters, saying: “The salary of the president has been raised to Tk120,000 from the current Tk61,200, while the prime minister’s salary will be increased to Tk115,000 from the current Tk58,600.
The salary of the speaker of the house has been fixed at Tk112,000, up from Tk57,200. The chief justice will receive Tk110,000 instead of the current Tk56,000 and ministers’ salaries will rise to Tk105,000 from Tk53,100.
The deputy speaker, leader of the opposition and chief whip will receive salaries equal to that of ministers.
Appellate Division justices’ salaries have been increased to Tk105,000 from Tk53,100 and those of High Court justices were raised to Tk95,000 from Tk49,000.
State ministers’ salaries have been raised to Tk92,000 from Tk47,800. The deputy leader of the opposition and the whips will receive salaries equal to that of state ministers.
Deputy ministers’ salaries have been increased to Tk86,500 from Tk45,150 while the salary of members of parliament has been raised to Tk55,500 from 27,500.
High government officials’ allowances have also been increased. Constitutional office holders generally enjoy expenditure allowances, house allowances if they live in private houses, insurance coverage during air travel, daily allowances, a discretionary fund and other allowances.
The new remuneration and privileges will be effective from July 2015 while the new allowances will be given to officials from July next year.
The cabinet secretary said all six bills would go to the president for approval since they are finance bills. The bills will then be sent to parliament.
Asked when the top officials of state would receive their new salaries, the cabinet secretary said: “After the bills are passed by parliament, they will get their new salaries with arrears.”
On September 7, 2015, cabinet approved the long-awaited Eighth Pay Scale for public servants, which fixed Tk78,000 as the highest basic pay and Tk8,250 as the lowest.