The State Government Paid Over INR 69.36 Lakh From The State Exchequer to Lawyers

Times of India reported that the state government paid over INR 69.36 lakh from the state exchequer to lawyers in the last four years to fight cases of steel and mines department pending in courts.

Mr Rajanikanta Singh minister of state for steel and mines disclosed this while replying to a question during the just concluded winter session of the assembly on December 22nd Saturday.

The government spent the highest INR 35 lakh in 2010-11 on legal expenses of the steel and mines department. In 2009-10 the government spent INR 19.44 lakh on the legal expenses, INR 10.21 lakh in 2011-12 and INR 4.71 lakh in 2008-09.

The multi crore mining scam and cases filed in different courts has become a major headache for the state government since the past two years. Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilizers Srikant Jena described the mining scam in the state as bigger than those of Goa and Karnataka.

The government said that Mr Mukul Rahatogi, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, was paid the highest INr 17.90 lakh in 2010-11 to fight a public interest litigation case.

Mr Anindya Kumar Mitra, a barrister of Calcutta high court, along with two other colleagues of the same court, was paid a total of INR 17.30 lakh during the past four years to fight the case of Geomine Minerals and Marketing Pvt ltd versus the state government.

Mr Srikanta Nayak, a special counsel, was paid INR 13.99 lakh from the state exchequer to fight at least nine different mining cases, while Mr KK Venugopal, a senior advocate of the Supreme Court, was paid INR 12.10 lakh to fight a single case of the state verses Nalco and others.

Among other major recipients of advocate's fees from the state government, Mr Raju Ramchandram, a senior advocate, was paid INR 3.80 lakh in connection with a single case in 2010-11 the state versus Arjun Ladha. Mr G Vahanvati, a senior advocate of Supreme Court, was paid INR 3.30 lakh in March this year in connection with Bhusan Power.