THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The High Court Advocate (Standing Counsel) for the Technological University received 91.89 lakh rupees over a three-year period as revealed by Minister R Bindu in response to Anwar Sadath's query in the Assembly. Elvin Peter, the counsel earned this fee for handling 127 cases until December 2022. In contrast, Krishnamurthy who served as counsel from 2015 to 2019 received only 13.64 lakhs for 98 cases.

In Kerala University, counsels are paid Rs 3500 per case and Rs 250 for deferred cases. In the Technological University, the rates are higher at Rs 5000 and Rs 4000 respectively. An additional Rs 4000 is paid for cases adjourned without argument. This charge was not applicable in the past. The current counsel has been billing between Rs 30,000 and Rs 1.5 lakh for each case including court costs. Even when a case was rescheduled without arguments, the requested amount on the bill was accepted.

It is alleged that the university is filing numerous appeals to increase the case count despite the law department stating there is no valid reason for an appeal. An appeal made by the university against a government directive was postponed 16 times. The staff organization has urged the VC to cease these unlawful payments. Jyotichudan, a retired Secretariat officer appointed as a legal advisor in 2021 received Rs 17.93 lakh until December 2022.