Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar should immediately slash the highly exorbitant fees currently being paid to the Advocate General of Goa Atmaram Nadkarni. If the government does not act by this Dec 19th, it would be appropriate in public interest to seek the intervention of the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court to stop this unjustified criminal waste of public funds.
It is very appalling that despite Goa being the smallest State it is very high-handedly hosting the highest paid Advocate General who is being paid upto Rs eight lakhs a month besides Rs 75,000 per day on every visit to Delhi. All political parties should make their stand clear on the very excessive fees being paid to the Advocate General of Goa. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar should justify how his Advocate General is being paid over five times more than the President of India. Why should the Advocate General of Goa be paid anything more than his counterpart in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat. While AG of Goa is being paid Rs 75,000 for appearance before the Supreme Court, the Advocate General of Maharashtra and Karnataka are paid only Rs 25,000 per appearance before the Supreme Court. Even in the State of Gujarat which Manohar Parrikar is trying to emulate, the Advocate General is paid Rs 1000 per appearance in the High Court while the Advocate General of Goa pockets a whopping Rs 10,000 per appearance. Atmaram Nadkarni’s continuance as counsel for several mining companies including Sesa Goa is preventing him from giving opinion and discharging his functions as Advocate General without being biased in favour of the mining lobby. There has to be an investigation into the huge disproportionate assets acquired by Advocate General Atmaram Nadkarni and the other glaring irregularities in the office of the Advocate General. If functionaries like the Chief Minister and Cabinet Ministers can come within the ambit of the Lok Ayukta, then the Advocate General should also especially since this government speaks of ‘zero tolerance’. Aires Rodrigues T1 - B30, Ribandar Retreat Ribandar - Goa - 403006 Mobile: 9822684372
