Second Schedule: Emoluments and Allowances
The Second Schedule fixes the salaries and allowances of the President, Governors, Speakers, judges and the CAG, charged on the Consolidated Fund.
At a glance
The Constitutional Schedule fixing emoluments and allowances of the President, Governors, presiding officers, SC/HC judges and the CAG.
President: Rs 5 lakh; Governor: Rs 3.5 lakh (revised 2018 from Rs 1.10 lakh).
These emoluments are charged on the Consolidated Fund and are not votable, insulating these offices from budgetary pressure.
Timeline
Emoluments and allowances of India's highest constitutional office-holders are not left to ordinary legislation year after year — they are fixed in the Second Schedule to the Constitution, a dedicated schedule that lists what the President, the Governors, the presiding officers of Parliament and the state legislatures, the judges of the higher judiciary, and the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) are entitled to draw. Because this Schedule is part of the Constitution's text, any change to these figures requires a constitutional amendment rather than a simple statute, and the resulting payments are charged directly on the Consolidated Fund rather than voted afresh by the legislature each year.
What the Second Schedule Covers
The Second Schedule brings together, in one place, the provisions on the salaries, allowances and privileges of a defined set of constitutional functionaries: the President, the Governors of states, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of the People and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Council of States, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of a state Legislative Assembly and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of a state Legislative Council, the Judges of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts, and the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. By grouping these entitlements in a schedule rather than scattering them across ordinary law, the Constitution gives these offices a degree of financial security that is insulated from the ordinary political and budgetary process.
President and Governor: The Headline Figures
Among the office-holders covered, the Second Schedule fixes the President's emoluments at five lakh rupees, and the Governor of a state at three-and-a-half lakh rupees. The Governor's figure was not always this high — it was revised upward in 2018 from Rs 1.10 lakh to Rs 3.50 lakh per month, a change carried through an amendment to the Governor's (Emoluments, Allowances and Privileges) Act, 1982. This illustrates how the Second Schedule's figures are periodically revised to keep pace with changing economic conditions, even though the underlying constitutional principle — that these office-holders draw a fixed, schedule-based emolument rather than a negotiated salary — remains constant.
| Office | Emolument fixed | Source of figure |
|---|---|---|
| President of India | Rs 5 lakh | Second Schedule |
| Governor of a State | Rs 3.5 lakh (revised from Rs 1.10 lakh in 2018) | Second Schedule, as amended |
| Speaker/Deputy Speaker (Lok Sabha), Chairman/Deputy Chairman (Rajya Sabha) | Fixed under the Second Schedule | Second Schedule |
| Speaker/Deputy Speaker, Chairman/Deputy Chairman (State Legislatures) | Fixed under the Second Schedule | Second Schedule |
| Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts | Fixed under the Second Schedule | Second Schedule, as amended |
| Comptroller and Auditor-General of India | Fixed under the Second Schedule | Second Schedule, as amended |
Charged on the Consolidated Fund, Not Votable
A defining feature of these emoluments is that they are charged expenditure. The salaries and allowances of the President, the Governors, the judges and the CAG are drawn directly from the Consolidated Fund of India (or, for a Governor, the Consolidated Fund of the State) as charged expenditure, which means the amount is not put to a vote in the legislature in the way ordinary budget heads are. A legislature can discuss such charged expenditure, but it cannot reduce or reject it through a vote. This arrangement is meant to protect the independence of these offices — particularly the judiciary and the CAG — from being pressured through the power of the purse.
Why the Schedule Format Matters
Because these entitlements sit inside a Schedule of the Constitution rather than in an ordinary Act of Parliament, changing the actual figures named in the Schedule is, strictly speaking, a matter for constitutional amendment. In practice, Parliament has also used connected ordinary legislation — such as the Governor's (Emoluments, Allowances and Privileges) Act, 1982 — to give further effect to and revise the amounts within the framework the Schedule sets up, as happened with the 2018 revision to the Governor's salary. The result is a two-layer structure: the constitutional Schedule establishes the principle and the office-holders covered, while connected statutes and periodic amendments adjust the actual figures over time.
UPSC Relevance
Prelims
- The Second Schedule lists emoluments/allowances of the President, Governors, presiding officers of Union and State legislatures, SC/HC judges, and the CAG.
- President's emolument: Rs 5 lakh; Governor's emolument: Rs 3.5 lakh (revised in 2018 from Rs 1.10 lakh).
- These emoluments are charged on the Consolidated Fund and are not votable by the legislature.
Mains
- Discuss the rationale for placing the emoluments of high constitutional functionaries in a Schedule and charging them on the Consolidated Fund rather than subjecting them to the ordinary budget process.
- Examine how periodic revisions (such as the 2018 increase in the Governor's salary) are carried out without disturbing the constitutional principle underlying the Second Schedule.
FAQ
Q1. What does the Second Schedule of the Constitution deal with? It fixes the emoluments, allowances and related entitlements of the President, Governors, the presiding officers of Parliament and state legislatures, judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, and the Comptroller and Auditor-General.
Q2. What is the President's salary under the Second Schedule? The Second Schedule fixes the President's emoluments at five lakh rupees.
Q3. What is the Governor's current salary and when was it last revised? The Governor's emoluments stand at Rs 3.5 lakh per month, revised in 2018 from the earlier Rs 1.10 lakh.
Q4. Are these salaries voted on by the legislature every year? No. They are charged expenditure on the Consolidated Fund, which the legislature can discuss but cannot vote down or reduce.
Q5. Can the figures in the Second Schedule be changed by an ordinary law? The Schedule itself is part of the Constitution, so changing the entitlements it establishes is tied to the constitutional amendment process, though connected statutes have been used to revise specific figures within that framework.
Quick Revision
- Second Schedule: emoluments/allowances of President, Governors, presiding officers, SC/HC judges, CAG.
- President's emolument: Rs 5 lakh.
- Governor's emolument: Rs 3.5 lakh (revised 2018 from Rs 1.10 lakh).
- Governor's (Emoluments, Allowances and Privileges) Act, 1982 gives further effect to the Schedule for Governors.
- These payments are charged on the Consolidated Fund — not votable by the legislature.
- Changing Schedule entitlements is tied to the constitutional amendment process.
Sources
- The Constitution of India — Second Schedule (Ministry of Law and Justice, legislative.gov.in)
- Governor's (Emoluments, Allowances and Privileges) Act, 1982 — legislative.gov.in
Further Reference
For deeper reading on this topic and the wider polity syllabus, these standard works are recommended:
- M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity (McGraw Hill) — the standard UPSC handbook.
- D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India (LexisNexis) — authoritative constitutional-law treatment.
- The Constitution of India — Bare Act — the official text.
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