A Goa based activist lawyer has petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the BJP-ruled State Government of overpaying its Advocate General.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Aires Rodrigues, who has in the past through legal petitions made the Government change policies, is now fighting a pitched battle seeking a review of the fees paid to Atmaram Nadkarni who draws nearly Rs 8 lakh per month as salary to represent the State at Bombay High Court in Goa. Rodrigues has claimed that the State AG is earning more than top judicial posts, including the Chief Justice of India, who was earning Rs 1 lakh per month and High Court judges who earn Rs 80,000 a month.
The President of India, he also pointed out, earns only Rs 1.5 lakh per month. Rodrigues, in his letter, has also alleged that the State Government is deliberately avoiding any response to RTI queries as well as clarifications from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the reason behind the high wages paid to the AG.
“It is irrational and inexplicable that Goa, despite being the smallest State, is not only hosting India’s highest paid Advocate General but the country’s highest paid public servant,” Rodrigues said in his complaint to Modi, which was released to the Press on Wednesday. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar has backed Nadkarni’s wages in the past claiming that the AG was an extremely capable counsel who otherwise would have been earning as much practising privately.