Supreme Court In Favour Of Regulating Fees Of Lawyers
The Supreme Court is in favour of regulating the legal profession, including the ‘astronomical fees' charged by some advocates, to ensure the poor are not nudged out of the justice delivery system.
The apex court, in a judgement, asked the government to ensure that people of all economic backgrounds have access to justice and the best legal assistance. A bench comprising Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice UU Lalit cited the report of the Law Commission of India which had called for the development of a “public sector” for the judiciary as well. The bench made these observations as part of a judgement relating to a dispute between a lawyer and client.
‘'While considering the mounting cost of litigation, it was observed that fee charged by some senior advocates are astronomical in character. The corporate sector is willing to retain talent at a high cost. It develops into a culture and it permeates down below ‘', the bench said quoting the 131st Law Commission report.
The apex court judgement also quoted the 266th Law Commission report which talks about instances such as frequent strikes, browbeating the courts for getting favourable orders , contemptuous conduct of some members of the legal profession as reasons for denial of justice.
The court hoped that the government would take “cognizance of the issue of introducing requisite legislative changes for an effective regulatory mechanism to check violation of professional ethics and also to ensure access to legal services which is major component of access to justice mandated under Article 39A of the Constitution.”
The specific case where these observations were made relate to a dispute in which the lawyer had asked for a percentage of the amount in litigation. The amount was paid through a cheque which was later dishonoured. The lawyer moved the court for action against the client but the apex court quashed the charges against the appellant, saying that a lawyer cannot ask for a percentage of the litigation amount in question as his fees.
Watch this discussion with senior advocates, Kamini Jaiswal, Sanjay Hegde and advocate Satvik Varma.
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