To, January 21st
2013
Honorable Chief Justice of India,
Supreme Court of India, New Delhi.
Minister of law and Justice, Govt of India,
4th floor, Shastri Bhawan, new Delhi.
Honorable
the Chief Justice,
Punjab
& Haryana High Court, Chandigarh.
SUB; Improving
fiscal health of Judiciary for better infrastructure.
Sir,
1. It is a general perception in public that
litigation is very expensive and out of reach of common man. When people talk
of high Cost of litigation, they do not talk about Rs 500/- or Rs 1000/- on
court fees. They talk of cost of “face Value”. The public perception is that
Judges decide cases on the basis of “Face Value” i.e. in favor of those
advocates who have either links, connections, kith and kin of judges or
designated senior advocates. In last 20 years, “Face Value” has come to be
accepted criteria of decision. Value of 'Facts' and ‘Acts’ have been lost
somewhere along the way. If one wants case to be decided in his favor then one
to engage ‘senior’ advocate or ‘Kith and Kin’ and thus cost of litigation
shoots up.
2. Cost of litigation can be reduced to some
extent by enhancing the cost of “face value”. Several advocates make
applications and beseech their known and friendly judges to designate them as
‘Senior Advocates’. Why? If they are already senior in their own fields they do
not need such a designation. The designation is required to give them “face
Value” and thus enhance their personal fees. Clients hire Sr. Advocates for
their “face value” and such clients would not mind paying part of such “face
value” to H’ High Court by way of special court fee for engaging ‘senior’
advocates. The fee can be given any name, like infrastructure court fee or
special court fee etc. It may vary from Rs 50,000/- to Rs 1,00,000/- wherever
designated senior advocates appear. DRTs are already charging Rs 1,00,000/- as
court fee with no complaints.
3. This special court fee for ‘senior’
advocates will not affect 99% of the advocates nor rich clients. The additional
fee so collected can be useful for improving infrastructure. However many
clients will start engaging other 99% of advocates thereby reducing cost of
litigation for general public.
4. The next type of advocates having “face
value” are ‘Kith and Kin’ of Judges. All cases wherever Kith and Kin are
engaged be listed before Hon’ble the Chief Justice or outstation Judges. If
such an executive order is issued, “face Value” of kith and kin will evaporate
sooner than expected, roster will be normal within one month and cost of
litigation will come down drastically.
5. During British times there was no
designation as Sr. Advocates. It is now a scandal. There should be relaxations
in norms for kith and kin like those for SC/BC. Kith and kin be designated as
Senior Advocates the moment they get a license to practice/ (or at time they are born) or the moment their
relatives is employed as a Judge. (Pun intended).
Suggestions to improve
fiscal health / infrastructure:-
A. There should be court fee wherever senior
advocates are engaged for both respondent and petitioner.
B. Cases wherever “Kith and Kin” are engaged
be listed only before Hon’ble the Chief Justice or outstation Judges.
C. Criteria for designation as Senior
advocates be relaxed for kith and kin of Judges like relaxation given to
backward people. Kith and Kin of Judges be automatically designated as ‘Senior’
the moment they become lawyers / their relatives becomes judge.
D. Remove such designations from statute
books. All lawyers are equal before law.
KD
Aggarwal
Advocate.
Together,
we can and with WILL make the system more just and prosperous.
Change
has a considerable psychological impact. To the fearful it is threatening
because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging
because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the
challenge exists to make things better. King Whitney Jr.
