Adarsh commission is proving costly -Governance Now

Adarsh commission is proving costly

Maharashtra is shelling out about Rs 2 lakh a day for lawyers

Geetanjali Minhas | May 17, 2011

The commission set up to probe the irregularities in the Adarsh Society is coming down heavily onto the Maharashtra government exchequer. It is paying about Rs 2 lakh per day to senior counsel to represent their stand before the inquiry commission.

The revenue department is paying senior counsel Anil Sakhare Rs 1.15 lakh a day for personal appearance. When Sakhare may not examine the witness his charges are Rs 55,000 and his consultancy fees per hour is Rs 7,500.

Other than Sakhare, the state government is also paying for a senior counsel who is part of the commission.

The commission members are being paid an honorarium of Rs 1.60 lakh a month. A conservative estimate of commission members’ daily expenses is nearly Rs 2 lakh.

The general administrative department is paying advocate Dipin Merchant Rs 40,000 and advocate Bharat Jhaveri Rs 5,000 per day as fees.

By the time the probe wraps up the commission would have had one to two extensions as right now it is working on a three months extension until July 7.

Swadheen Kshatriya, principal secretary, revenue department, said, “Though Sakhare has been appointed by the revenue department, it was decided that he would be the senior counsel for the government in toto”.

The revenue department had finalised Sakhare’s appointment and fees through a government resolution (GR) issued on May 4, while urban development department and environment departments have appointed separate junior counsels to represent their cases.

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