When the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) was pulled up on Monday by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for going unrepresented in important cases for weeks, it turned out that the real reason for lawyers dropping out was that the Union law ministry was playing Uncle Scrooge.
In Tamil Nadu too, lawyers who represent the State in various courts sulk at the low fee they get as compared to what they earn during private practice. A reading of the Government Order in this regard, issued last in November 2010 during the DMK regime, adds credence to their claim.
According to the order, which revised the fee structure, a lawyer on the civil side designated as a Government Pleader (GP) will be paid just `500 as appearance fee for disposal of a writ petition or an arbitration original petition. If the case is closed as infructious or withdrawn, the fee drops to a paltry Rs 150.
This doesn’t mean the GP is paid for every case in a day. There is a ceiling of Rs 5,000 for batch (more than five) cases. “This means even if we attend to a number of disposals, we will be able to draw only the ceiling amount,” said a government lawyer on condition of anonymity.
The contrast is stark. The same lawyer, who has more than 15 years of experience, said he used to charge a minimum of Rs 20,000 for disposal of just one case in lower courts when he was in private practice.
For drafting an affidavit or counter affidavit, the GP gets as little as `400 per case. Again, a ceiling of Rs 6,000 has been fixed in this regard.
If it is a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court, the lawyer would get Rs 1,500 for the work per case. A legal opinion will fetch the pleader Rs 500, except for
those relating to government agreements. This fee structure also applies to Additional Government Pleaders, Special Government Pleaders and Government Advocates on the civil side, who are also paid a monthly retention fee that ranges from Rs 7,500 to Rs 15,000 based on the designation. Adding salt to the wounds is the fact that payment of this meager fee is also delayed for months and sometimes even years together.