News Desk :
The government has increased the monthly retainer fees of the law officers in every district five times, in order to encourage them and make them more responsible while representing the State at the courts.
Also, their daily hearing and monthly valuation fees have also been increased, reports Bangla Tribune, citing media release of the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry issued on Thursday.
The law officers are government pleader (GP), public prosecutor (PP), special PP, additional GP, additional PP, assistant GP, assistant PP and local GP.
A retainer fee is an amount of money paid upfront to secure the services of a lawyer.
Law Minister Anisul Huq took special measures for the pay hikes, the release adds. Upon being appointed as the minister for the first time in 2014, Anisul took various initiatives to make the law officers more responsible and accountable, alongside boosting their skills.”Duly, he tried to help increase the fees, thus, turning to the prime minister for her consent in this regard,” Law and Justice Division Secretary Md Golam Sarwar said.
The Finance Ministry, following a series of discussions, finally cleared the pay hike proposal, the secretary said, adding that the fees would be increased further in future.
The press release, however, does not say when the new fees will come into effect and when it was increased last time.
The new fees
From now on, the GPs, PPs and special PPs appointed at divisional cities will get Tk15,000 and those in districts will receive Tk12,000 as the monthly retainer fees. The amounts were Tk3,000 and Tk1,500 in the past.
The monthly valuation fee of GPs has been re-fixed at highest Tk5,000, up from Tk3,000 previously. For a full day, PPs and special PPs will get Tk600 as hearing fee, while the amount for a half day is Tk300.
Additional GPs and additional PPs in divisional cities and districts will get Tk12,000 and Tk9,000 as monthly retainer fees respectively.
Additional GPs will be paid the same as the GPs as their monthly valuation fee. For a full day, additional PPs will get Tk500 as hearing fee, while the amount for a half day is Tk250. The divisional city-level assistant GPs, assistant PPs and local GPs will receive Tk6,000, while those in districts will get Tk4,000 as their retainer fees per month. The fee of the assistant and local GPs previously was Tk750 while assistant PPs were not entitled to any payment.
On the other hand, assistant and local GPs will get a maximum of Tk5,000 as monthly valuation fee. The fee for assistant PPs has been set at Tk250 for a full-day hearing and Tk150 for half day.
