Draft a Law for regulating Lawyers' Fees: SC to Centre
On December 5, a Supreme Court bench of Justice Adarsh K Goel and U U Lalit passed an order asking the Centre to frame a Law in order to regulate the fees charged by lawyers. Concerns over the growing commercialisation of the legal profession expressed by the Supreme Court stating that it is a high time a proper legislation should be enacted in order to ensure that the economically backward sections of the society are not deprived of legal assistance from competent lawyers due to lack of funds. The Centre was asked to look into the matter of professional misconduct by the lawyers and bar the practice of sharing the pecuniary benefits awarded by the courts to their clients.
Post referring to the various reports made by the Law Commission, the Supreme Court passed an order. The Law Commission, in its 131st report submitted in 1988, recommended that it was the duty of the Legislature to prescribe for the floor and ceiling in the fees for the services rendered by the members of legal profession. The “astronomical fees” charged by the lawyers proves to be a barrier in the justice delivery system of the country. The Commission, in its 266th report, recommended a proper mechanism to be provided, in order to regulate the indivisible minimum standard of the legal profession for ensuring accountability. The Commission also said that the unjustified strikes by the lawyers leads to a major loss in the working days including a delay of the court proceedings directly affecting the speedy disposal of the cases.
However, the Parliament has not taken any effective action to enact a proper legislation dealing with regularisation of the fees charged by the advocates, leading to the denial of access to justice to the needy litigants. The Parliament also failed in providing a proper law to deal with the violation of the ethical code of conduct by the lawyers.
In order to maintain a uniform standard of the professional conduct by the advocates of the country and to ensure adequate legal services to all, Supreme Court asked the Centre to take proper action in the matter and frame appropriate legislations. Access to legal services is not just a right of every individual, but it is also a Constitutional duty of the State to ensure the same. The advocates have resorted to charging exorbitant fees from the clients which tend to make the legal profession a mere business activity. Thus, it is important to formulate a requisite law to tackle this issue.
Either the existing laws should be amended or a new legislation to govern the professional conduct of the lawyers should be brought in. The lawyers are currently governed by the Advocates Act, 1961 and the Bar Council of India Rules.
