K’tka Govt paid Rs 88 lakhs to lawyers to argue against hijab in SC: Report
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Bengaluru: The lawyers who represented the Karnataka State government against the hijab ban in the Supreme Court are reported to have received about Rs 88 lakhs from the state government.
A report by the investigative digital publication The File said that Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General of India KM Nataraj were paid 39.60 lakh and Rs 48.40 lakh respectively for defending the State government’s stand in the apex court.
Tushar Mehta appeared in court nine times, while Nataraj appeared in court 11 times in the case. The two advocates received Rs 4.4 lakh per hearing as remuneration. The Solicitor General of India is subordinate to the Attorney General for India and is the second highest law officer in the country.
The Supreme Court heard a batch of petitions filed against the Karnataka High Court’s verdict that ruled in favour of banning religious symbols in educational institutions, including the hijab, a kind of head scarves Muslim girls and women wear as part of religious obligation.
The apex court announced a split verdict with Justice Hemant Gupta affirming that the state government was authorised to enforce uniforms in schools and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia calling hijab a matter of choice that cannot be stifled by the state. Since the case had a split verdict, the CJI has to decide on passing it to a three-member bench, or a larger bench with an odd number of judges.
