Hindustan Times: Kolkata: Saturday, 24 June 2023.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly blamed the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the state having to move courts frequently and draining the state exchequer.
The West Bengal government’s allocation of funds to meet legal expenses went up from ₹24 crore in 2014-15 to over ₹75 crore in 2022-23, according to information provided to HT under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The total payment to Calcutta high court lawyers increased from ₹13 crore to ₹42 crore in 2022-23. For district court lawyers, the allocation increased from ₹6.86 to ₹31 crore in the same period. “As for the empanelled lawyers and pleaders in the district courts, the department disburses the payment through the district magistrates,” said a district magistrate.
The allocation for payment of empanelled lawyers in the fast-track courts, which is also made through the district magistrates, in 2022 was ₹4.24 crore compared to ₹4 crore in 2014-15.
The government does not have data for legal expenses between 2011 when ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) came to power and 2014, according to information obtained under RTI.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly blamed the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the state having to move courts frequently and draining the state exchequer. In November 2022, she told the state assembly that the government wanted to complete a recruitment process within three months but a lot of money was being spent on fighting court cases.
Since 2014, the TMC-led government has moved the Supreme Court repeatedly to challenge the orders of the Calcutta high court in multiple cases including many handed over to federal probe agencies.
The high court this month ordered the deployment of central forces for the panchayat polls next month. This prompted the state election commission and the state government to move the top court, which upheld the high court order.
According to official data, 11,969 criminal cases were filed in the high court in 2016 with the state as a party. The number of such cases went up to 16,035 in 2022-23.
More cases were being filed in districts against the state government and this was among the reasons for the rise in legal expenses, according to information obtained under RTI. In 2016, at least 22,828 such cases were filed in the high court, and at least 25,576 in 2022-23.
The number of criminal lawyers empanelled in the high court (including the Jalpaiguri circuit bench) increased to 511 in 2022 from 132 in 2011. The number of civil lawyers on the panel also went up from 464 in 2011 to 726 in 2022.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said there is no administrative justice and the people are forced to move courts. “In some cases in which the political interest of the TMC was hit, the state moved the Supreme Court and spent a huge amount of money to hire lawyers outside its panel.”
Congress leader and advocate Koustav Bagchi, who was arrested for alleged remarks against Banerjee in March, said if the state government does something illegal and unconstitutional, the people would be forced to move the court.
BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said they have long been demanding that the TMC government publish the details of expenses incurred in paying Supreme Court lawyers. “Till now we have not got any response. Most of the things, the TMC government does are anti-people and anti-democratic. So, people have to move court.”
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly blamed the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the state having to move courts frequently and draining the state exchequer.
The West Bengal government’s allocation of funds to meet legal expenses went up from ₹24 crore in 2014-15 to over ₹75 crore in 2022-23, according to information provided to HT under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The total payment to Calcutta high court lawyers increased from ₹13 crore to ₹42 crore in 2022-23. For district court lawyers, the allocation increased from ₹6.86 to ₹31 crore in the same period. “As for the empanelled lawyers and pleaders in the district courts, the department disburses the payment through the district magistrates,” said a district magistrate.
The allocation for payment of empanelled lawyers in the fast-track courts, which is also made through the district magistrates, in 2022 was ₹4.24 crore compared to ₹4 crore in 2014-15.
The government does not have data for legal expenses between 2011 when ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) came to power and 2014, according to information obtained under RTI.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has repeatedly blamed the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the state having to move courts frequently and draining the state exchequer. In November 2022, she told the state assembly that the government wanted to complete a recruitment process within three months but a lot of money was being spent on fighting court cases.
Since 2014, the TMC-led government has moved the Supreme Court repeatedly to challenge the orders of the Calcutta high court in multiple cases including many handed over to federal probe agencies.
The high court this month ordered the deployment of central forces for the panchayat polls next month. This prompted the state election commission and the state government to move the top court, which upheld the high court order.
According to official data, 11,969 criminal cases were filed in the high court in 2016 with the state as a party. The number of such cases went up to 16,035 in 2022-23.
More cases were being filed in districts against the state government and this was among the reasons for the rise in legal expenses, according to information obtained under RTI. In 2016, at least 22,828 such cases were filed in the high court, and at least 25,576 in 2022-23.
The number of criminal lawyers empanelled in the high court (including the Jalpaiguri circuit bench) increased to 511 in 2022 from 132 in 2011. The number of civil lawyers on the panel also went up from 464 in 2011 to 726 in 2022.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said there is no administrative justice and the people are forced to move courts. “In some cases in which the political interest of the TMC was hit, the state moved the Supreme Court and spent a huge amount of money to hire lawyers outside its panel.”
Congress leader and advocate Koustav Bagchi, who was arrested for alleged remarks against Banerjee in March, said if the state government does something illegal and unconstitutional, the people would be forced to move the court.
BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said they have long been demanding that the TMC government publish the details of expenses incurred in paying Supreme Court lawyers. “Till now we have not got any response. Most of the things, the TMC government does are anti-people and anti-democratic. So, people have to move court.”
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