After the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations for Central employees, the Government is set to put in place a commission to determine salaries, allowances and perks of Members of Parliament. The Cabinet is expected to clear a proposal to this effect at its meeting scheduled for tomorrow. Since the new arrangement will require an amendment in the existing law, The Salary, Allowances and Pension Act of Members of Parliament, 1954, the Government will move a bill after the Parliament resumes the budget session April 15. Under present law, MPs fix their own salaries and allowances on the basis of recommendations of a joint parliamentary committee (JPC). In 2005, when the JPC recommended a wage-hike for MPs, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee called for an independent mechanism. He convened a meeting of leaders of all parties in May 2005 who unanimously endorsed his view. The meeting noted that India was perhaps the only country in the world where MPs fixed their own salaries. However, the leaders left it to the Government to decide on the mechanism. As the matter rested there, the MPs voted a wage-hike for themselves in accordance with the recommendations of the JPC. A year later, the Speaker wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterating the need for an independent body and expressed concern over the delay. The monthly salary of an MP was increased to Rs 500 in 1964, Rs 750 in 1983, Rs 1,000 in 1985, Rs 1,500 in 1988, Rs 4,000 in 1998, Rs 12,000 in 2001 and the present Rs 16,000 in 2006. Similarly, the daily allowance was increased to Rs 31 in 1964, Rs 51 in 1969, Rs 75 in 1983, Rs 150 in 1988, Rs 200 in 1993 (subject to signing attendance register), Rs 400 in 1998, Rs 500 in 2001 and the present Rs 1,000 in 2006. Apart from salary and daily allowance, an MP is entitled to travel allowance, a rent-free bungalow or flat, free transit by train, constituency allowance of Rs 20,000 per month, office expenses allowance of Rs 20,000 a month, pension, free supply of electricity and free telephone calls up to a certain limit.