Meghalaya bar bodies say AG Amit Kumar billed Rs 1.5 lakh per hearing

Two lawyers' bodies in Meghalaya have accused the state's Advocate General, Amit Kumar, of billing the government Rs 1.50 lakh for a single court appearance, stepping up a months-long campaign for his removal.

At a press conference in Shillong on Friday, the High Court of Meghalaya Bar Association and the Shillong Bar Association said they had received invoices in an envelope marked "confidential" from an anonymous source, The Shillong Times and Meghalaya Monitor reported.

What the associations allege

According to the associations, the invoices relate to a case in the Commercial Court, which sits at district court level, between 2021 and 2023. They say Kumar charged Rs 1.50 lakh per appearance in that matter and that the total bills run to more than Rs 1 crore.

High Court Bar Association secretary general Kishore Gautam said the documents contradicted what Kumar told reporters on September 3. At that press conference, Kumar had rejected allegations of excessive billing and said he followed a fixed schedule: Rs 20,000 per appearance in the High Court, Rs 40,000 in the Supreme Court and a monthly retainer of Rs 50,000.

Shillong Bar Association secretary Trebor Jyrwa also pointed to bills raised by Kumar's Delhi chamber and by Indus Law Associates, and to an arbitration matter in which, he alleged, Rs 1.40 lakh was claimed for one day against a prescribed fee of Rs 11,000.

RTI requests

The associations said their right-to-information applications seeking details of payments to the Advocate General's office had been turned down. They said that at the appeal stage the department has asked for time, until November 5, to get Kumar's consent before disclosing the information.

The lawyers said they hold more invoices but will wait for the RTI disclosures before deciding their next step. They said their campaign is about public spending and accountability, not a personal dispute.

Not independently verified

NEInsider has not seen the invoices, and the allegations have not been tested in any forum. The reports did not carry a fresh response from the Advocate General or the state government to Friday's claims. This story will be updated if they respond.