With 44 votes, the National Assembly adopted the Pay Revision (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan 2020 today. Along with it, the House also adopted the Supplementary Budget Appropriation Bill for the Financial Year 2019-2020.
Continuing the third reading of the Pay Revision (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan 2020, the Chairperson of the Economic and Finance Committee of the National Assembly presented the revised sections of the Amendment Bill at the house today.
“The Finance Minister yesterday proposed for a change in the commencement and application dates of the Bill. However, the committee had a meeting yesterday and decided not to make any changes in the dates. With this, now the Bill will come into force retroactively from 1st July 2019 as recommended by the committee,” said Kinley Wangchuk, the Chairperson for Economic and Finance Committee.
He further added the term Driver Allowance and Fuel and Maintenance Allowance for Member of Parliaments (MP) under section 33 and 34 of the Pay Revision Act of Bhutan 2019 has also been changed to Discretionary Grant. Hence, under the Discretionary Grant, it will be referred to as Driver Grant and Fuel and Maintenance Grant for MPs respectively.
The Chairperson also informed the committee’s recommendation to make Children Education Allowance (CEA) available only up to a maximum of three children has also been called off. The members of the House yesterday approved the revision of CEA for the Children studying in Bhutan as per the South Asia rate of USD 250 per month as recommended by the Committee. The CEA is provided to the children whose parents are serving in foreign posting.
Similarly, the Committee’s recommendation to do away with the revision of duty vehicle for Dzongdag for SUV with Front Wheel Drive up to 2500 cc to SUV with Front Wheel Drive up to 2800 cc was also supported by the house yesterday.
The House finally adopted the Pay Revision (Amendment) Bill of Bhutan 2020 with 44 Yes votes out of the 46 members present at the house.
Likewise, the Supplementary Budget Appropriation Bill for the Financial Year 2019-2020 for a sum not exceeding Nu.903.277 million was also adopted with 44 Yes votes.
Passang Dorji/Choni Dema/Tshering Dhendup
