I was still a very raw junior when a colleague of my senior asked me if I could do him a favour. Like my senior, he too was an Assistant Government Pleader on the Writ Cell and shared a room with my senior. He was a very helpful and likeable fellow who I shall call Adv. N.D.Gudkar in this story.
Adv. Gudkar asked me if I filed any income tax returns? I said I had no income and hence filed no return.
"Then you are the perfect junior," he said, "I will keep giving you cash every month which you keep depositing in your account as fees received for legal advice from clients. And every now and then, as per my requirement and instructions you issue me cheques from that amount as fees paid to senior counsel for consultation. For this service you can retain ₹5000 per month in your account. What do you say?"
As I was not comfortable with his proposal, I politely declined to do what he wanted me to do.My senior too did not pressurize me to accept his colleagues' proposal. Adv. Gudkar, on his part, did not bear any grudge against me due to this refusal on my part. He readily found another raw junior who gladly accepted his offer.
Gradually, Adv.Gudkar, though much senior, became a good friend. Sometimes he requested me to be his AOR and this I gladly did.He too hailed from the Konkan Coast. His dabba was always full of Konkani delicacies prepared by his wife and my senior and Adv. Gudkar always ate lunch together. Their wives packed a lot of tasty food in their dabbas and I was the biggest beneficiary as there was food left even after the three of us had had our meal.
The post of 'Assistant Government Pleader' (AGP) used to be considered a good stepping stone to elevation to the BHC bench from the Bar in those days. Several AGPs who were colleagues of my senior and Adv. Gudkar had already been elevated.
