BEST puts its solicitors on notice

MUMBAI: Brihan Mumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST) has decided to take its own legal consultant, Crawford Bayley & Co, to task on ground of unaccountability of funds and other irregularities. Crawford Bayley handles civil litigation matters for BEST.

“In the past one-and-a-half years, we have paid almost Rs 90 lakh as an advance to Crawford in their capacity as solicitors for BEST. They have taken this advance and haven’t submitted bills for Rs 51 lakh,” said Uttam Khobragade, general manager, BEST. The consultant, however, has slammed the allegations.

DB Engineer, senior partner, Crawford Bayley & Co, said: “We strongly doubt the correctness of the figures mentioned. The allegation will be dealt with, in detail, after verifying the records concerned. Thereafter, appropriate action will be taken.”

Meanwhile, the spat between the two bodies has taken an ugly turn. While Mr Khobragade claims irregularity on the part of Crawford, the solicitors have taken potshots at his reputation.

In a written reply to ET, Mr Engineer claimed, “I can now understand why the division Bench of the Hon’ble High Court has made serious remarks against Mr Khobragade, on his conduct when he was vice-president of MHADA, in one of its judgments in the case of Mangesh Janardan Mohite & Ors versus State of Maharashtra & Ors.”

The paradox is hard to miss. While BEST claims that payments made to Crawford have been wasteful, it has been straddled with a heavily-staffed legal department, with as many as 20 legal officers. Mr Khobragade added, “We have already terminated their services and will now make sure the advance money is recovered.” BEST has also accused Crawford of charging exorbitantly high fees compared to paltry claims in many cases.

Responding to the accusations, Mr Engineer said, “BEST has been our client for over 70 years now and we have had a very amicable and professional relationship with them. In fact, our professional charges for handling legal matters for BEST are very low compared to our charges for other corporate clients.”

An official document reveals that BEST had paid almost Rs 1,00,11,222 for the period April ’05 to March ’06 and Rs 56,33,410 for the period April ’06 to October ’06 to its solicitors. Thus, in 18 months, almost Rs 1.56 crore had been paid to the solicitors. But the rates as well as the terms and conditions were not fixed for any of them.