The recent re-structuring of fees payable to the Advocate General of Goa is a sham and a mere eye wash.
The government had gone back on its assurance that the fees of the Advocate General of Goa would be brought on par with the neighboring states. Even after the restructuring of fees, Mr. Subodh Kantak would be paid upto a maximum of Rupees 5 lakhs a month though the Advocate General of mega states like Karnataka, Maharastra and Gujarat average around a mere Rs. 40,OOO a month. Mr. Subodh Kantak continues to be India's highest paid Advocate General earning much more than even the President of India. While Goa's Advocate General Mr. Subodh Kantak gets paid Rs. 8000/- each time he stands up in the High Court, his counterpart in Gujarat is paid Rs. 700/- per day per case only if it is an effective hearing. The AG of Maharashtra is paid Rs.5000/- per case, upto a maximum of Rs. 7000/- per day irrespective of the number of cases he appears. The AG in Karnataka gets Rs. 1000/- for the first case and Rs. 250/- each for the subsequent cases upto a maximum of Rs. 10,000/- per day. The government should recover all the extra money paid to Mr. Subodh Kantak by way of double and excessive billing especially in the Saleli case where the Advocate General appeared in the High Court on 27th January 2006 in the bail applications of the 102 accused and was paid 102 times Rs. 8000/-, i.e. Rupees eight lakhs sixteen thousand although it was factually a common argument for the whole batch of bail applications and he should have claimed only Rs. 8000/- While the Government was taking undue care and pampering the Advocate General, nothing was being done to hike the salaries and improve the benefits of Subordinate Court Judges, Public prosecutors, Assistant Public Prosecutors and other Government advocates. Aires Rodrigues Ribandar
