WITH THE BACKING OF TWO FORMER SUPREME COURT JUDGES ADV AMIT DESAI DECLINES TO RETURN THE FIVE LAKHS
Mumbai Senior Advocate Amit Desai has declined to refund to the Goa Government the five lakhs he was paid for the four hearings he never appeared for before the Bombay High Court at Goa.
Acting on a complaint filed by Adv. Aires Rodrigues the Superintendent of Police North Goa Mr. Arvind Gawas had by a letter dated 21st October directed Mumbai Senior Advocate Amit Desai to urgently refund the five lakhs that was erroneously paid to him under a bonafied belief that he had appeared for those four hearings before the Bombay High Court at Goa in the Ryan Fernandes confirmation of death sentence case
In his reply to SP Arvind Gawas, Adv. Amit Desai has stated that when he was approached by Advocate General Subodh Kantak to appear in the case for the State of Goa he had clearly indicated that he would be charging Rs 1,25,000 for each day he was required to be in Goa either for meetings, preparation or appearances in the Court. Adv. Desai has further stated that he was also entitled to Rs 25.000 per hour for any conference held at Mumbai.
Stating that his appointment was done by the Law Department at the request of the Advocate General, Adv. Amit Desai has stated that he has raised bills as per the actual understanding.
Adv. Amit Desai has also sent the Goa Police the legal opinions of two former Supreme Court judges Justice B.N.Srikrishna and Justice S.N.Variava from whom he had sought a written opinion to support his case. Interestingly the legal opinion given by Justice B.N.Srikrishna is dated 19th October which is two days prior to SP Arvind Gawas’s letter to Adv. Amit Desai.
Justice B.N.Srikrishna in his 14 page legal opinion has stated that in his opinion Adv. Amit Desai was entitled to charge conference fees for all the days he was in Goa.
Stating that fees charged by Adv. Amit Desai were reasonable, Justice B.N.Srikrishna has opined that the government order stating “per appearance” did not state that it was appearance before the Court.
Further stating that it would be unfair to embarrass Senior Advocate Amit Desai by raising such a dispute, Justice B.N.Srikrishna has also opined that instead of nitpicking the Government of Goa should take a reasonable view in the matter.
Justice S.N.Variava in his 4 page legal opinion while stating that Adv. Amit Desai was known to be a very busy and much sought after Advocate in Mumbai has opined that the term “per appearance” must necessarily mean “appearance in Goa” and not “appearance in Court”.
Justice S.N.Variava has further warned that Goa Government will face a situation where its cases are not properly represented as it will find it difficult to get Senior Advocates from outside Goa to come to Goa and appear in matters on behalf of the Government.
