Legislative powers: The most important function of the legislature is law making. As defined by the Constitution of India – Seventh Schedule (Article 246), MLAs have powers to frame laws on all items in List II (state list) and List III (concurrent list). Some of these items are police, prisons, irrigation, agriculture, local governments, public health, pilgrimages, burial grounds, etc. Some items on which both parliament and states can make laws are education, marriage and divorce, forests, protection of wild animals and birds.
Financial powers: The next important role of the assembly and the MLAs is fiscal responsibility. The legislative assembly exercises control over the finances of the state and has to approve the budget presented by the government in power and ensure that money is allocated adequately and appropriately for the business of governance.
Executive power: The Legislature also has oversight over the Executive. MLA’s are expected to oversee and monitor all the programmes and schemes that the executive implements. This does not mean that they merely sit on committees approving beneficiary lists and houses and determining how local area development funds are spent. They are expected to ensure that the executive branch of the government does its job responsibly, responsively, transparently, impartially and in line with the decisions taken by the political executive.
Electoral power: The state Legislature plays a role in electing the President of India. Elected members of the Legislative Assembly along with the elected members of Parliament are involved in this process.
Constitutional powers: Some parts of the Indian Constitution can be amended by Parliament with the approval of half the state Legislatures. Thus the state legislatures take part in the process of amendment of our Constitution too.
Salary and other privileges of our MLAs
We must understand that our MLAs are also paid quite well for these services that they are expected to do. They are very quick in approving high salaries and special perks and privileges for themselves. In fact, the Karnataka Assembly, which included MLAs from the entire political spectrum, gave themselves a 73% hike in 2011 without even a discussion. After the customary question hour and zero hour, the then Minister for Law, Suresh Kumar presented two bills – Karnataka Ministers Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2011 and Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pensions and Allowances (Second Amendment) Bill, 2011. As the opposition benches were vacant, the bills were passed without any discussion. The passing of these two bills raised the salaries of MLAs by an average of 73 per cent to over Rs 95,000 per month. Until then, the MLAs were paid a salary of Rs. 51,000 per month approximately and the ministers in the cabinet drew Rs 54,000 per month. In addition to this, the members are entitled to travel and dearness allowances, constituency maintenance allowance and wages for their personal staff among others. With the increase in salaries of both ministers and MLAs, the total financial burden on the state exchequer would be Rs 26 crore per annum. According to officials in the legislature, Karnataka ranks fifth in the country in terms of salaries and allowances to MLA’s. This is all the more reason for citizens to demand performance, accountability and transparency from the elected members who are compensated from the taxes that we pay.
We must understand that our MLAs are also paid quite well for these services that they are expected to do. They are very quick in approving high salaries and special perks and privileges for themselves. In fact, the Karnataka Assembly, which included MLAs from the entire political spectrum, gave themselves a 73% hike in 2011 without even a discussion. After the customary question hour and zero hour, the then Minister for Law, Suresh Kumar presented two bills – Karnataka Ministers Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2011 and Karnataka Legislature Salaries, Pensions and Allowances (Second Amendment) Bill, 2011. As the opposition benches were vacant, the bills were passed without any discussion. The passing of these two bills raised the salaries of MLAs by an average of 73 per cent to over Rs 95,000 per month. Until then, the MLAs were paid a salary of Rs. 51,000 per month approximately and the ministers in the cabinet drew Rs 54,000 per month. In addition to this, the members are entitled to travel and dearness allowances, constituency maintenance allowance and wages for their personal staff among others. With the increase in salaries of both ministers and MLAs, the total financial burden on the state exchequer would be Rs 26 crore per annum. According to officials in the legislature, Karnataka ranks fifth in the country in terms of salaries and allowances to MLA’s. This is all the more reason for citizens to demand performance, accountability and transparency from the elected members who are compensated from the taxes that we pay.
Apart from the salary and other related perks, our MLAs also enjoy immunity. Like members of Parliament, members of the Legislature also enjoy freedom of speech on the floor of the House. They cannot be prosecuted for having said anything on the floor of the House. During session the members cannot be arrested in any civil cases.
Measuring the performance of our MLAs
Only when we know what our MLAs are expected to do, can we, as common citizens, understand how to measure their performance and assess how well they are playing their roles. It is extremely important for us to be aware of what they will be doing for the next 5 years when they are expected to be our elected representatives. Let us try to analyze how well they performed over the last 5 years. The Karnataka Assembly had only 16 sessions and met for a total of 164 days over these 5 years. The annual average was a mere 33 days in comparison to 71 days that the Lok Sabha met during this time. This shows how serious our members were in discussing matters related to the people of Karnataka and their development and performing the duties expected of them.
Only when we know what our MLAs are expected to do, can we, as common citizens, understand how to measure their performance and assess how well they are playing their roles. It is extremely important for us to be aware of what they will be doing for the next 5 years when they are expected to be our elected representatives. Let us try to analyze how well they performed over the last 5 years. The Karnataka Assembly had only 16 sessions and met for a total of 164 days over these 5 years. The annual average was a mere 33 days in comparison to 71 days that the Lok Sabha met during this time. This shows how serious our members were in discussing matters related to the people of Karnataka and their development and performing the duties expected of them.
We the citizens must come together and demand that our MLAs bring out an annual report card clearly outlining their performance. They need to inform the people of their constituency how well they performed against indicators like their attendance in the assembly, the number of questions that they asked, their understanding and appreciation of the different policies and laws that they make, the time that they spend in consulting their constituents, how well they oversaw the executive and a statement disclosing their income and assets. As per Karnataka Election Watch that analyzed the affidavits of incumbent candidates, each MLA’s assets grew by an average of 79%. Without casting any aspersions on the sources, we the citizens of Karnataka have a right to know how our public servants are able to generate this kind of income. Only when we the common people continue to engage with our elected representatives even after the elections are over and continue to monitor and evaluate their performance will we be able to demand good governance from them. It is in our own interest that we do not relax but continue to demand both accountability and performance from our MLAs for the next 5 years.
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