Lawyer Abbas Kazmi,defending Ajmal Kasab,will be paid Rs 2,500 a day,with the law and judiciary department having approved the legal fee recommended by the special sessions court. The court had sent us a recommendation and we forwarded it to the department,which has approved it. So now Kazmi will be paid Rs 2,500 as legal fees; this will be per effective hearing, Principal Secretary M N Gilani said One effective day means a day when court proceedings are conducted. Kazmi said,Yes,I have got the recommendation and,as I had said earlier,I am doing my professional duty by defending Kasab. The fees were recommended by the court,which I have accepted after the notification. Kazmi was specially appointed by the court to defend Kasab on April 16,after his previous lawyer Anjali Waghmare was found guilty of professional misconduct. The court had said his fees would be higher than the Rs 900 per case paid to lawyers of the state legal aid panel. Kazmi (54) has appeared for several accused in the 1993 serial bomb blasts case including Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi,now discharged,and gangster Ejaz Pathan,now dead.In the 1993 blasts case,the court had appointed V R Vishwakaram and Bharat Thakar to defend some of the accused. They had been paid Rs 1,500 a day.
