After the hefty pay hike for MPs, comes a proposal for over 60 per cent increase in the salaries of Maharashtra MLAs and MLCs.

The proposal has been mooted by the joint committee of legislators on salary and allowance. It said the total monthly salary and perks for a legislator, which now come to around Rs 44,000, should be raised to about Rs 70,000.

This was decided at a meeting of the panel held here in July, a senior Vidhan Bhawan official told PTI here today.

"The proposal will be examined by the finance department, after which necessary legislation amendment may be tabled in the winter session of state legislature at Nagpur in December," he said.

The panel feels the basic salary (Rs 2,000) and other allowances, barring the stationery allowance, should go up by Rs 2,000 each and has asked the state to okay a Rs 21,000 hike in constituency allowance, thus taking it from Rs 25,000 to Rs 46,000.

Maharashtra has 289 MLAs and 78 MLCs. Finance Minister Sunil Tatkare heads the panel and his department has to okay the hike.