"Heavy" fees paid to noted counsel KTS Tulsi, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Ashwani Kumar when they were were hired by the Haryana government during the previous Congress regime has come under the scanner now.
Finance Minister Abhimanyu today assured the state Assembly during the question hour that if any "irregularity" was found in the appointment of these Supreme Court lawyers, action will be taken.
The House was informed that senior advocate Tulsi, who is also a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, and his three assisting counsel were given Rs 5.20 crore by the Haryana government to contest the case in a lower court of Gurgaon in the case of arson and rioting in Maruti Suzuki Manesar plant in year 2012.
Similarly, two other lawyers, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Ashwani Kumar, were paid Rs 1.04 crore and Rs 1.23 crore respectively for defending the Haryana government in Supreme Court and Punjab and Haryana High Court respectively in different cases, as per the reply given Abhimanyu.
No payment was made to Manish Tiwari as per record of the home department, he said in his written reply by Mahipal Dhanda (BJP).
Replying to a supplementary, Abhimanyu said it has come to notice that there was a "deviation" in the appointment process for hiring these senior lawyers from the normal practice and there was a sharp difference in payment made to these advocates in comparison to fee paid to other advocates.
