Kantak cares not

Thanks to Aires Rodrigues and Advocate General Subodh Kantak, the thankless (trust me, you can’t imagine how much) task of writing this column is made easy on the rare occasion. What I love about these two gentlemen is that Kantak matches Rodrigues’ increasing incidents of exposing him, by simply increasing his own financial bottomline. Actually, the truth is Kantak is more than one step ahead – after all, time is money! There is no comparable word for this in business lingo, but there’s a beautiful term any layman will understand … I think its called cock-a-snook. Kantak has been cocking-a-snook at Rodrigues, apart from the rest of the world too. Anyways, it reminds me of Snoop Doggy Dogg – the hardcore rap music about violent street life in the US of A, I think first put on the pop charts by IceCube. So, while Rodrigues raves on with his ‘Gangsta Rap’, Kantak stays ice cool. You dig? Here’s the latest ‘Rap’ on Kantak. Rodrigues in his inimitable style, says he has been paid Rs 3 crores 99 lakhs 46 thousand 750 rupees by the Goa government between February 2005 and February 2009 (see table below), making your government, India’s most litigious government beyond reasonable doubt. That, according to Rodrigues makes Kantak not only India’s highest paid Advocate General but India’s highest paid constitutional authority as well.

He says: “Last year’s re-structuring of fees payable to Kantak was a sham as Kantak is now getting paid up to Rs 5 lakhs a month, though the Advocate Generals of bigger States like Karnataka, Maharastra and Gujarat average around Rs 40,OOO a month.” I say Goa must be India’s most litigious State advisedly, even after taking into account Modiland where the 2002 communal riots spawned a bunch of cases against the Gujarat government that are yet to see any conclusion. Thus, Rodrigues does make a point. According to Rodrigues, Kantak gets paid three times the salary of President Pratibha Patil, whose monthly salary is Rs 1.5 lakh, and almost five times the salary of the Chief Justice of India - whose salary is Rs 1.10 lakh per month. Amen to that.


Doggone it

Information Rodrigues obtained under Right to Information reveals Kantak met with three accidents since February 11, 2005 for which he stitched the government with a total repair bill of Rs 1, 38,256. This is when it gets side-splitting. Very funny, because though I have gnashed my teeth in frustration (seriously, that’s why I took a two-week Sabbatical because of the futility of it all), this one caused mirth. Hugely, I might say. Here’s why. Kantak’s first accident on July 22, 2006 was due to a coconut falling on the bonnet of his official car; the other two accidents occurred on April 10, 2008 and January 20, 2009 and were caused by stray dogs! While in one case his official driver claimed to have lost control because he braked suddenly to avoid a stray dog, in the other case, a stray dog hit the front bumper of his car! Yeah! Right. Now, one really hopes that Kantak, an animal lover himself, wins his Rs 15 crore defamation suit against Rodrigues. Because, if my memory serves me right, Kantak said he would use that compensation, partly towards the welfare of stray dogs. There is of course the inevitable twist in the tail concerning who drives Kantak’s official car most of the time, but unfortunately as Rodrigues has no RTI evidence on this for obvious reasons, I’ll let it be for the moment. Bow Wow!


The high cost of official litigation



Month Fees Retainership



11.2.2005 to 28.02.2005 2,24,000 -



1.3.2005 to 4.3.2005 74,000 -



16.6.2005 to 30.6.2005 47,000 9,750



Arrears June 2005 1,05,000 9,500



July 2005 3,08,000 19,500



Arrears July 2005 5,40,000 19,000



August 2005 4,46,000 19,500



Arrears August 2005 7,70,000 19,000



September 2005 4,07,000 19,500



Arrears September 2005 7,05,000 19,000



October 2005 2,09,000 19,500



Arrears October 2005 3,75,000 19,000



November 2005 2,03,000 19,500



Arrears of November 2005 3,65,000 19,000



December 2005 3,38,000 19,500



Arrears December 2005 5,90,000 19,000



January 2006 5,99,000 19,500



Arrears January 2006 1,02,5,000 19,000



February 2006 3,68,000 19,500



Arrears February 2006 6,40,000 19,000



March 2006 4,97,000 19,500



Arrears March 2006 8,55,000 19,000



April 2006 4,16,000 19,500



Arrears April 2006 7,20,000 19,000



May 2006 1,16,000 19,500



Arrears May 2006 2,20,000 19,000



June 2006 3,95,000 19,500



Arrears June 2006 6,85,000 19,000



July 2006 4,94,000 19,500



Arrears of July 2006 8,50,000 19,000



August 2006 4,31,000 19,500



Arrears August 2006 7,45,000 19,000



September 2006 8,48,000 38,500



October 2006 9,52,000 38,500



November 2006 1,1,36,000 38,500



December 2006 1,0,40,000 38,500



January 2007 1,0,64,000 38,500



February 2007 1,0,68,000 38,500



March 2007 1,9,60,000 38,500



April 2007 1,2,32,000 38,500



May 2007 64,000.00 38,500



June 2007 6,08,000 38,500



July 2007 9,92,000.00 38,500



August 2007 6,80,000 38,500



September 2007 1,0,64,000 38,500



October 2007 1,2,96,000 38,500



November 2007 7,36,000 38,500



Oct’ + Dec 2007 8,80,000 38,500



January 2008 8,08,000 38,500



Jan’& Feb 2008 6,24,000 38,500



Feb & March 2008 8,96,000 38,500



Oct’ 07& March 2008 6,32,000 -



April 2008 5,00,000 27,000



May 2008 1,27,000 27,000



June 2008 5,00,000 27,000



July 2008 5,00,000 27,000



August 2008 4,43,000 27,000



September 2008 5,00,000 27,000



October 2008 3,76,000 27,000



November 2008 4,72,000 27,000



December 2008 5,00,000 27,000



January 2009 5,00,000 27,000



February 2009 5,00,000 27,000



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