Last Updated on March 7, 2023 by Administrator
It has been recently said by the Madras HC that the profession of law cannot be reduced to such a situation where it becomes a contract. This was said by the court in response to a request for the government to fix the fees that needed to be paid to the law officers.
On 3rd March, the bench of Justice CV Karthikeyan quashed two government orders, which sought that the fees should be imposed on the lawyers who are taking up arbitration and suits of civil nature. It had also set up a limit of Rs 10 lakh.
The court directed the Government of Tamil Nadu the examinations the representations that have been made by the former Additional Advocate General and Senior Counsel V. Ayyadurai on the matter of settlement of his fees that were pending and the appropriate order to be passed within the time frame of 12 weeks.
3 writ petitions were filed by Ayyadurai before the HC in 2020 as well as 2021, where he claimed the government had not settled his fees where he had represented the government in proceeding where high stakes were involved and the invoices which he raised were of 1.2 crore
In return to the same, the state cited the previously mentioned government orders of May 2018 and July 2019, where a structure was set for the payment of the law officers, and due to this Ayyadurai was not able to claim his cost, which he claimed was in accordance with the Advocates Act
The court said that determining such a ceiling is not rational and the reasons, as well as the basis for such fixation, are still not known. The court quashed the two orders and further even allowed the writ petitions. Also, it directed the government to take into consideration the bills that have been raised by the petitioner.
The court, at last, said that the government is allowed to make all kinds of rules and policies, but such a policy cannot be allowed where the ceiling for the profession of law gets fixed by the executive.
Case Title: – V. Ayyadurai v. State
Written By: – Shianjany Pradhan
Instagram Id:- shianjanypradhan
