Thiruvananthapuram: In a striking contradiction for what is given a reply in assembly regarding employing top lawyers from outside the state by the government, a detailed reply from the Advocate General office, with the same question, placing the numbers only one third of what demands the minister in the assembly .
Contradiction raises questions for the reliance sanction provided in various legal forums.
A reply received through RTI acted from the Advocate Office General Putting expenses at RS 5.03 Crore.
Contrary to this number is the answer to the Minister of Law P Rajeeve, who told the Assembly on July 22 that the government had spent RS 18.98 Crore to involve lawyers throughout the country to defend the government in various courts.
The answer was given to the questions raised by MLA KK Rema.
But, the details of expenditure are not available.
In accordance with RTI replies received two weeks after the minister’s replies in the assembly, 13 Top lawyers of this country were hired by the government to maintain 20 cases and cases connected to various occasions in the last five years.
Lawyers rented by the State including Jaideep Gupta, Amarendra Sharan, Vijay Hansaria, Harin P Raval, Pallav Shishodia, N Venkataratan, CS Vaidyatan, KV Vishwanathan, Ranjit Kumar, Vikas Singh, Nappinai NS, Maninder Singh and Prabhas Bajaj.
In addition to their expenses, the government spends 8.6 lakh Rs to meet their hotel bills and Rs 24.9 lakh to meet their airplane tickets.
In the case of the murder of Shuhaib and a double killing case of periya, where CPM sympathizers or cadres found in the defendant’s list, the government spent Rs 1.74 Crore to hire lawyers from outside the country.
While Rs 86.40 Lakh was spent hiring a lawyer in the case of Shuhaib’s murder, Rs 88 Lakh was spent in the case of a double killing of periya.
Also, Rs 9.27 Lakh was spent on hotel bills and flight tickets for lawyers in these two cases.
The government has hired them to oppose to submit cases to the CBI.
While the government managed to maintain this case with the state police in the case of Shuhaib’s murder, in the case of the Double Murder Periya, the state must submit this case to the CBI after trying all options until the Supreme Court.
Kerala maintains a big ‘fleet’ lawyer.
In accordance with the latest data, the Cabinet has, on 28 July, cleaning up the appointment of 20 special government applicants, 53 government senior applicants and 52 government applicants.
The opposition leader VD Satheesan slams the government’s attitude to employ lawyers from outside in many cases where the government has political interests.
“In a greater time, lawyers are employed from outside only in cases where there are legal questions or in cases with consequences between countries.
Now, the government is recruiting top lawyers in cases with political interests.
This not only raises questions about team efficiency Our law, but also a lack of love for the poor, who seek investigations by agents such as CBI in cases where they will lose loved ones, such as Shuhaib and Periya cases, “he said.
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He also questioned the striking difference in the answers given in the Assembly and received under RTI Act.
“While the answers given in assembly are considered to be final, replies under the RTI Act, widely used by the public, should be correct factually.
The difference in Stark in these two replies is needed because they are misleading,” he said.