Govt may roll back hike in court fee

Revenue Minister A K Walia told representatives of the Coordination Council of All Bar Associations of Delhi on Thursday about Dikshit’s meeting.

The Delhi High Court,acting on a plea filed by the Delhi High Court Bar Association,had stayed the government’s hike and asked it to hold a meeting with the associations of lawyers and resolve the issue within two weeks.

A week after the announcement,lawyers from all six district courts in Delhi went on strike. It ended after the state government promised to hold talks with the agitating lawyers.

Rajiv Jai,chairperson of the Coordination Council of All Bar Associations of Delhi,said the meeting with the Walia-led government team was positive.

“We spoke to Walia and presented a memorandum to him. He promised to resolve the issue in two days,” Jai said.

Walia said Chief Minister Dikshit will meet the department heads concerned on Friday. “She will chair a Cabinet meeting to discuss the hike and all other issues. A possible rollback will also be debated,” the minister said.

He said the Delhi government was keen on resolving the impasse with lawyers as soon as possible.

Jai said the hike in court fee was 10 times more than the old rates in certain cases. “This is too drastic. It will prove to be a burden on the litigants,” he said.

Dikshit had defended the hike,which was decided in the last budget session of the Assembly,stating that the court fees had not been revised since 1958. The hike could raise the government’s revenue through court fee from around Rs 50 crore to over Rs 450 crore.