A city lawyer has knocked on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's door seeking a review of fees of nearly Rs.8 lakh per month paid to Goa's Advocate General (AG) Atmaram Nadkarni from the state coffers.
Lawyer activist Aires Rodrigues in his letter to Modi Wednesday also complained that the state government was dragging its feet over responding to clarifications sought by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to know the reasoning behind the high wages being paid to the state government's top law officer.
Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who had taken on the previous Congress-led coalition government in Goa over high wages paid to the then AG Subodh Kantak, has repeatedly defended Nadkarni calling him an extremely capable lawyer whose cost-benefit ratio to the state is high.
"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 faxed to Modi.
Quoting numbers, Rodrigues in the letter has also drawn Modi's attention to the fact that Goa's government law officer earned more in wages than the country's top most government functionaries namely the President of India (Rs.1.5 lakh), Chief Justice of India (Rs.1 lakh) and High Court judges (Rs.80,000).
Rodrigues also alleged that the state government was stonewalling queries from the CAG over the issue of high wages to Nadkarni in comparison to AGs in other states.