JOIN USAt present the government pleaders get retainer-fee of Rs 3,000 a month and in many districts they do not have offices in the district court complexes.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister Suresh Kumar, briefing the media after meeting with government pleaders in Bangalore on Saturday, said that the pleaders had demanded increase in retainer-fee from Rs 3,000 to Rs 20,000. The existing price was fixed decades ago. It should be revised. The government would take a decision after consulting the CM, the minister said.
He said many pleaders appealed to the government that they should be provided with sufficient staff and offices in court complexes. “Many pleaders have no space to keep their files. The government has decided to make arrangements for the offices in the court complexes. If necessary new rooms will be built. The government will arrange funds to provide computers with internet connection to the pleaders,” he said.
“There are complaints from the pleaders that they lost many cases because of lack of information from the departments concerned. The government will take a decision to designate a nodal officer in each department to coordinate with the pleaders”, Suresh Kumar said.
Land acquisition cases
The minister said the government pleaders had been fighting thousands of cases related to acquisition of private land for various projects. At least there were 3,000 cases each in all districts. In many cases various courts had given judgements enhancing the compensation for land losers.
“According to a rough estimation the government needs at least Rs 6,000 crore to Rs 8,000 crore to clear dues as per the judgements. The government has appealed over the rulings,” he said.
Citing an example, he said, when the government acquired land for Sea Bird project in Uttara Kannada the price for each gunta was fixed at Rs 300. The land losers moved the court and after long years the court had directed to give Rs 11,000 per gunta. There were many such cases across the state, he said.