The Law Department of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has refused to pay several bills raised by advocates, amounting to crores, due to blatant non-compliance with financial rules and violations of terms of engagement by the minister Kailash Gehlot, according to sources in the law department.
The sources said it seems obvious that Minister Gehlot did so in full knowledge of the rules to be followed and flouted the same with the deliberate intent of not making the payments and blaming the Law Department instead. Sources also revealed that among several others, bills amounting to Rs. 15.5 lakh put up by Kapil Sibal, Senior Advocate, and a bill amounting to Rs. 980,000 put up by Rahul Mehra, Senior Advocate, have been turned down by the Law Department, citing a blatant departure from rules put in place by the Aam Aadmi Party government itself for the engagement of Senior Advocates and Advocates on Record (AoR), the sources said.
The sources added that the department has also not agreed to the very appointment of Kapil Sibal, Rahul Mehra, Senior Advocates, Jyoti Mendiratta, and Sudhanshu Padhi (AoRs).