Amid a raging political war over the border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra, the Karnataka government revealed the amount of money that it is paying to a battery of senior lawyers to fight the case in the Supreme Court.
An order by Karnataka's Law department said that it has fixed a professional fee of ₹59.9 lakhs per day for the team of lawyers, according to the news agency PTI. As per the January 18 order, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi will be paid ₹22 lakh per day for appearing before the apex court and Rs 5.5 lakh per day for conferences and other works.
Another lawyer Shyam Divan will be paid ₹6 lakhs a day for appearing before the court, ₹1.5 lakhs per day for preparation of the case and other works and ₹10 lakhs for outstation visits per day. The government will bear the expenses of hotel facilities and business class air travel.
The Advocate General of Karnataka will be paid ₹3 lakhs a day for appearing in the SC, ₹1.25 lakhs per day for preparing cases and other works, ₹2 lakhs on outstation visits apart from bearing the cost of hotel and business class air travels.
The state government has also hired senior lawyer Uday Holla, a former advocate general of Karnataka, who will be paid ₹2 lakhs per day for appearing in the apex court, ₹75,000 per day for preparation of the case, ₹1.5 lakhs per day for settlement of pleadings and other works, and ₹1.5 lakhs per day for outstation visits apart from hotel and travel expenses.
(With PTI inputs)
Also Watch: 'Prostitute' controversy: Congress leader apologises to sex workers, day after comparison with rebel MLAs