VIJAYAWADA: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Andhra Pradesh High Court challenging the State government’s payment of Rs 15.80 crore in legal fees to senior Supreme Court advocate Siddharth Luthra.
Retired railway employee Vemu Kondala Rao filed the petition, alleging that the government had paid huge amounts of public money to Luthra after the formation of the present TDP-led NDA government. The petitioner pointed out that Luthra had earlier appeared for Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in cases when he was in the Opposition.
According to the petition, the State government paid Rs 15.80 crore to Luthra between June 2024 and June 2026. The petitioner sought cancellation of the government orders under which the payments were made and urged the court to direct the government to recover the excess amounts already paid.
The petitioner contended that Government Order 214, issued in August 2022, prescribed a maximum fee of Rs 3 lakh per case for advocates. However, Luthra was allegedly paid amounts far exceeding the prescribed ceiling. The petition further alleged that the payments violated Rules 42 and 43 of the AP Advocate Fees Rules, 2010, and that the government had relaxed the applicable norms to facilitate the payments.
Kondala Rao urged the High Court to direct the government to strictly implement GO 214 while making future payments to advocates. The Chief Secretary, Secretary of the Law Department, Principal Secretary of the Home Department, Principal Secretary of the Finance Department and Siddharth Luthra in his personal capacity have been named as respondents in the petition.