Delhi: The Supreme Court of India has expressed surprise at the number of senior advocates hired by the Andhra Pradesh Government for putting forth arguments in one case pertaining to an NGT order on Polavaram project. The court wondered whether so many senior advocates were ever hired to argue in a single case in the past. Not stopping at that, the Apex Court asked whether the AP Government lawyers were thinking if many of them appeared, it will affect the court's judgement.
A bench of the Supreme Court, Justice Ajay Rastogi and Justice C T Ravikumar, made these comments while hearing a petition filed by the AP Government, challenging a verdict of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The NGT ordered the AP Government to pay Rs 120 crore as compensation for environmental violations in the Polavaram project.
Senior advocate and Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi was supposed to appear on behalf of the AP Government in this case but the AP Government counsel requested the court to give him a pass as he was busy with another case. The judges refused and suggested explaining the basic facts of this case first. Then the AP Government lawyer said that they have an objection to the calculation of environmental compensation made by the NGT.
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When the bench asked on which point exactly the AP Government had an objection, another senior lawyer Venkataramani came there. Then the AP Government lawyer requested for the court approval for Venkataramani to appear on behalf of the State government. Expressing surprise, the court said: 'Earlier Singhvi's name was mentioned. But now he (Venkataramani) is being mentioned. How many people will you appoint? We will issue orders to tell how much has been spent for this case.'
Counsel for the defendant Pentapati Pullarao told the court that the AP Government has spent Rs. 100 crores so far on the Polavaram case, which pertains to over 50,000 people allegedly affected by the floods. Finally, the bench said that it will hear all the NGT-related AP cases relating to Polavaram, Chintalapudi, Purushottapatnam, and Pattiseema irrigation projects at the same time.
