From Rs 1 to Rs 3.8 crore: How Jethmalani’s bill in Kejriwal’s defamation case inflated

Ram Jethmalani maintains that he doesn't charge fee from his poor clients.

New Delhi, April 5: The issue of payment of Ram Jethmalani's legal bill, who is fighting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's defamation suit filed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, is creating a lot of noise in the political circuit.

While Kejriwal and his team members wanted the Delhi government to pay the legal luminary's whopping bill of Rs 3.8 crore, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress slammed the Aam Aadmi Party for using tax payers' money to clear bill pertaining to a personal matter of the chief minister.

In the face of all this controversy, the Rajya Sabha MP on Tuesday told the media that if Kejriwal can't clear his bills, then he would fight the Delhi chief minister's case free of cost.

He told NDTV that since the beginning he was maintaining that he won't charge Kejriwal a single penny, but it was the latter who insisted the senior lawyer to send him the bill.

"Even if (Delhi) government doesn't pay or he can't pay, I will appear for free, will treat him (Kejriwal) as one of my poor clients," said Jethmalani.

In an earlier interview to Scroll in December 2015, the 93-year-old lawyer-turned-politician said he was fighting Kejriwal's case free of cost.

"Listen, I have this reputation that I am a highly-paid lawyer, but what many people don't know is that I earn money from only 10% of my clients. The rest of my work is pro bono. I work free. Sure, I am not charging any fee from Kejriwal and that's because his government itself is so poor. (Laughs heartily.)," Jethmalani told Scroll.

On Tuesday also Jethmalani maintained the same stand that he did not charge any fee to Kejriwal, but it was the Delhi chief minister who insisted on paying the bill. Since Jethmalani is one of the country's most expensive lawyers, it is no surprise that the bill sent to his 'VIP' client was a massive one. However, what is debatable is whether a chief minister should use tax payers' money to clear his/her personal bills?

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