The Goa office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has sought an urgent explanation and justification from the Goa Government on the high fees being paid to Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni.
Acting on a complaint filed on 16th May last year on the very exorbitant fees being paid to the Advocate General, the office of CAG made a comparative examination with the states of Haryana, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya and found the fees being paid to the Advocate General of Goa to be very high. The CAG in a letter to the Goa Government on 23rd January this year had also sought from the Goa Government the list of cases represented by the Advocate General in the High Court and Supreme Court along with the total remuneration paid and the amount that was at stake in those cases. The CAG has also sought details of the total amount paid monthly to the Advocate General and a list of the Advocates empanelled by the Goa government with the total remuneration paid to them year wise. The CAG in its comparative chart has drawn the Government’s attention that while the Goa AG for appearance before the High Court is paid Rs 10,000 per case, that the AG of Haryana is paid Rs 1000 while the AGs of Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya are paid Rs 5000, Rs 3000 and Rs 2500 respectively. The CAG has further informed the Goa Government that while the Goa AG is paid Rs 75,000 for appearance before the Supreme Court the Haryana AG gets paid Rs 2000 while the AGs of Manipur and Meghalaya get paid Rs 10,000 with the Arunachal Pradesh AG paid Rs 3500. With no reply having been received from the Goa government the Deputy Accountant General on 22nd April once again wrote to the Law Secretary calling for the information urgently. The CAG is reportedly in the process of sending yet another reminder to the Goa Government. The Government is duty bound to promptly reply to any queries of CAG. The Goa Government by high-handedly not responding to the queries raised by CAG is only attempting to shield Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni. Goa despite being the smallest state is not only hosting India's highest paid Advocate General but the country's highest paid public servant. The President of India is paid Rs 1,50,000 a month, the Chief Justice of India Rs 1,00,000 and a High Court Judge Rs 80,000. Advocate General of Goa Atmaram Nadkarni out beats them all by getting paid up to a whopping eight lakhs a month besides Rs 75,000 on every visit to Delhi. This gross anomaly defies all logic. Public funds cannot be allowed to be squandered in such a high-handed manner. The astronomical fees being paid to the Advocate General of Goa is nothing short of a day light loot and plunder of the State’s exchequer. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on 23rd May 2012 had directed that the fees of Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni be hiked due to the very high inflation being faced by the Advocate General. The government by an order issued on 8th April last year hiked the fees of the Advocate General from a monthly maximum of five lakhs to eight lakhs. The Advocate General’s per appearance fee before the High Court was hiked from Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per case per day. In addition the Advocate General is now paid Rs 75,000 per day on every visit to Delhi regardless of whether he appears before the Supreme Court or not. The hike in the Advocate General’s fees was made retrospective with effect from 1st April 2012. The Advocate General also gets 15 personal staff as entitled to a Cabinet Minister. Information furnished last week by the Directorate of Accounts under the RTI Act revealed that Goa Government paid Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni by way of fees and other allowances a whopping Rs 2,055,9032 (two crores fifty five lakhs nine thousand and thirty two rupees) for the two years from March 2012 to March 2014. As per the information the Government also spent a further Rs 10,14,869 (ten lakhs fourteen thousand eight hundred and sixty nine rupees) on the business class airfare for the 17 trips made to Delhi by Advocate General from January 2013 to March 2014. Aires Rodrigues Advocate High Court C/G-2, Shopping Complex Ribandar Retreat, Ribandar – Goa – 403006 Mobile No: 9822684372 Office Tel No: (0832) 2444012 Email: airesrodrigu...@gmail.com Or airesrodrig...@yahoo.com You can also reach me on Facebook.com/ AiresRodrigues Twitter@rodrigues_aires