Meghalaya AG defends Rs 1.5 lakh fee, says critic acted for contractors

Meghalaya Advocate General Amit Kumar has rejected allegations that he overbilled the state, saying his fee of Rs 1.5 lakh per appearance in three major arbitration disputes was disclosed in writing from the start and was small compared with the public money the cases protected.

In a detailed statement issued on Saturday, October 31, Kumar responded to a press conference held a day earlier by Kishore Ch. Gautam, Secretary General of the High Court of Meghalaya Bar Association, and other lawyers. They had displayed the AG's fee bills and argued that he charged Rs 1.5 lakh per Commercial Court appearance against a government schedule of Rs 20,000. Kumar called the allegations "incorrect and false", Meghalaya Monitor and Syllad reported.

Why he says the schedule does not apply

According to the AG, the Law Department office memorandum of October 11, 2018 sets a monthly retainer of Rs 50,000 and per-appearance fees of Rs 20,000 and Rs 40,000 for routine state matters. Large arbitrations are not covered, he said, and the memo itself leaves fees for such work to be settled between the Law Department and the Advocate General.

The three disputes involved the Shillong-Nongstoin and Nongstoin-Rongjeng-Tura road project under SARDP-NE, whose contract value rose from about Rs 1,304 crore to Rs 2,406 crore; the ADB-funded Garobadha-Dalu road; and the MUDA complex at Police Bazar in Shillong. Kumar said contractors had claimed about Rs 1,588 crore from the state, a figure that would have reached roughly Rs 1,788 crore with interest.

He said the fee was first conveyed to the Chief Engineer (NH) on August 19, 2019, that the Road Transport Ministry's regional office later sought a justification, and that he supplied one in September 2021. The Commercial Court cases, he argued, were part of the same dispute, including the state's successful bid to stay an interim award of about Rs 75 crore.

'Rs 1,470 crore of claims rejected'

Kumar said tribunals threw out claims of about Rs 1,470 crore and awarded the state around Rs 13 crore in two of the cases. He pointed out that the department's own statement shown at the press conference listed Rs 1.35 crore as claimed, Rs 54.45 lakh as paid and Rs 80.78 lakh as still unpaid.

Conflict-of-interest charge

The AG alleged that Gautam had appeared as counsel for the contractors, M/s BSC-C&C JV and M/s BSCPL Infrastructure Ltd, in several of the same matters without telling the media. He also noted that a 2024 FIR under corruption law is being investigated against the joint venture, which the state blacklisted for five years in December 2024, a decision the High Court upheld and which is now before the Supreme Court.

Kumar described the campaign against him as a "personal vendetta", and said that showing his bank account number and PAN at the press conference breached his privacy. He said he would pursue legal remedies, including for defamation.

The fee row is the latest turn in a months-long agitation by Meghalaya lawyers seeking the AG's removal. Gautam had not publicly responded to the statement at the time of writing.