A move to raise salaries and allowances of MPs by three times has been put off with the union cabinet today deferring a decision on it in view of lack of consensus.

The cabinet meeting, chaired by prime minister Manmohan Singh, discussed the issue during which some ministers said it would be improper to raise the salaries and allowances of the MPs at a time when inflation is high and people are facing difficulties, sources said.

The dissenting ministers also referred to the farmers' suicide and allegations of corruption in Commonwealth Games while making the point that the hiking the salaries of MPs at the moment would be seen in the bad light, sources said.

MPs currently get Rs 16,000 per month as salary and there have been demands for raising it. The argument has been that even a secretary to the government gets Rs 80,000 a month.

The proposal is to hike the salary to Rs 50,000.

Besides the base salary, an MP gets a daily allowance of Rs 1000 for each day when Parliament is in session or a sitting of a House committee is scheduled. A member is also allowed for a constituency allowance of Rs 20,000 per month and office expense allowance of another Rs 20,000 each month.

These apart, he is also entitled to a certain number of air journeys, AC first class train travel, rent free flat or hostel accomomdation through out the term of his house.

The recommendation to increase MPs' salary was made taking into account consumer price index and the wage index for skilled urban labour.

The committee led by Congres MP from Chhattishgarh Charandas Mahant had made a recommendation to fix MPs salary Rs one rupee more than that of a secretary at Rs 80001.

The panel which took the decision included MPs from various parties including S S Ahluwalia from BJP, V Maitreyan of AIADMK, Rajiv Shukla from Congress and Ramgopal Yadav from Samajwadi Party.

However, the parliamentary affairs ministry suggested making it Rs 50,000.