New Delhi: Ranjan Gogoi is the only member of the Upper House who does not draw a salary or allowances. In March, he was nominated as a Rajya Sabha(RS) member by the government.
This revelation is by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat in response to a Right to Information (RTI) query.
Ranjan Gogoi formally opts not to avail of any salary and also the allowances of the Upper House.
In his letter to the Secretary-General of Rajya Sabha, he wrote;
“I am not availing the benefits of the salary and allowances, except traveling allowances and accommodation. Instead, I opt to avail the retirement benefits as a former Chief Justice of India (CJI).”
Gogoi’s present pension as Chief Justice of India is Rs. 82,301 per month. As per reports, the Indian Government spends about Rs. 3 crores a month on Rajya Sabha MPs. The Upper House gave this disclosure in response to an RTI query. The Rs. 3 crores per month are the total of salaries and allowances of current members.
As per records available in the branch, salary and allowances were given to 226 members of the Rajya Sabha. In the month of July, the total bill amounts to Rs. 2,99,18,000.
Apart from Ranjan Gogoi, there are also other two members of Rajya Sabha who are not drawing their salary. Manoj Jha and Rakesh Sinha only draw their allowances.
Rakesh Jha is taking a salary from Delhi University (DU). He takes regular classes and also supervises Ph.D. students. He takes a salary from DU.
Rakesh Singh also teaches at Delhi University.