Bhubaneswar, Aug. 23: The Odisha government today decided to revise the remuneration of government lawyers starting from the level of public prosecutors up to the advocate-general. The last revision of lawyers’ remuneration took place in 2009.

This was among several decisions that were taken by the state cabinet that met here today under the chairmanship of Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik. This was the first cabinet meeting after the recent ministry rejig. The state Assembly is scheduled to begin its monsoon session on August 28.

Apart from granting sops for the legal community, the cabinet also decided to recruit 700 teachers for degree colleges. The cabinet gave its stamp of approval on the decision to hike the reservation quota for women in urban local bodies from 33 per cent to 50 per cent. Another decision was taken to simplify procedures for issuing certificates to disabled persons.

The monthly retainer fee of government pleaders and public prosecutors will be hiked from Rs 4,000 to Rs 6,000. Besides, the daily appearance fee of public prosecutors, additional public prosecutors and special public prosecutors will go up from Rs 600 to Rs 800.

Similarly, monthly retainer fee of associate lawyers will be revised from Rs 2,500 to Rs 4,000. Their daily appearance fee will be up from Rs 600 to Rs 800 per day.

Assistant public prosecutors will get a monthly remuneration of Rs 3,000 instead of Rs 2,000, while their daily appearance fee will be raised from Rs 400 to Rs 600.

The monthly retainer fee of government advocates working in Orissa High Court and various tribunals will be doubled to Rs 12,000. Their daily appearance fee will be revised from Rs 1,400 to Rs 2,000.

Similarly, the monthly retainer fee of additional government advocates and standing counsels will be doubled to Rs 10,000 and their daily appearance fee will go up from Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,600. Additional standing counsels will get a 100 per cent hike in their monthly remuneration of Rs 4,000. Their daily appearance fee will also be revised from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,400.

The monthly retainer fee of the advocate-general will be raised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000. His appearance fee in the Supreme Court will be doubled to Rs 10,000 per appearance. He will also get a raise for appearing in other courts from Rs 1,600 to Rs 3,000.

It was also decided that the services of 109 contractual ayurvedic and 128 homeopathic medical officers would be regularised. They will be regularised in Class III rank and will then be upgraded to Class II.

The cabinet also approved the proposal to restructure Odisha Forest Service – Group A (senior and junior branches). Six posts at the super-time scale and three in superior administrative grade will be created for opening promotional avenues for the OFS – Group A (senior and junior) officers.

It was also decided to revive arbitration tribunals and reduce lease value for medium and major reservoirs.