MPs' salaries are fixed permanently by the Constitution.

The Constitution doesn't fix any amount — it lets Parliament set and change salaries and allowances through ordinary law, like the 1954 Act.

MPs could have gone unpaid if Parliament delayed making a salary law.

Article 106 itself provided a temporary fallback: the same allowances the Constituent Assembly members received applied automatically until Parliament legislated.

The Constitution of India

Article 106

Salaries and allowances of members

Members of either House of Parliament shall be entitled to receive such salaries and allowances as may from time to time be determined by Parliament by law and, until provision in that respect is so made, allowances at such rates and upon such conditions as were immediately before the commencement of this Constitution applicable in the case of members of the Constituent Assembly of the Dominion of India.§

Why this exists

When the Constitution was being drafted, there was no separate law yet fixing MPs' pay. Article 106 solved this by letting Parliament decide its own members' salaries through ordinary legislation, while giving a fallback (the old Constituent Assembly rates) so there'd be no gap on day one. This avoided putting fixed numbers in the Constitution itself, since salary levels need to change over time with inflation and economic conditions.

Common misconceptions

Myth: MPs' salaries are fixed permanently by the Constitution.
Fact: The Constitution doesn't fix any amount — it lets Parliament set and change salaries and allowances through ordinary law, like the 1954 Act.
Myth: MPs could have gone unpaid if Parliament delayed making a salary law.
Fact: Article 106 itself provided a temporary fallback: the same allowances the Constituent Assembly members received applied automatically until Parliament legislated.