‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court invokes Prophet Muhammad teaching, asks civic body to settle lawyer’s dues
Madras High Court invoked Prophet Muhammad’s teaching “Pay the worker before his sweat dries” while directing a civic body to settle pending lawyers’ dues. Read the full verdict and context.
Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, the Madras High Court has come to the aid of a lawyer struggling to recover his unpaid legal fees from a municipal corporation, observing that the principle of fairness should equally apply to labour and service jurisprudence.
Justice G R Swaminathan, referring to the prophetic principle – ‘pay the worker before his sweat dries’, observed, “This principle is only a facet of fairness and is eminently applicable in labour jurisprudence.”
The court was hearing the plea of a former counsel, P Thirumalai, who claimed that the corporation failed to pay his due amount of Rs 13.05 lakh. Previously, the high court directed the corporation to consider the counsel’s representation, after which an order was passed rejecting a substantial part of the claim, leading to the present petition.
The high court allowed the former counsel to approach the district legal services authority and hand over the list of cases in which he had appeared.
The court further directed the corporation to settle the fee bills without interest in two months without interest citing the delay of 18 years in challenging the non- payment by the petitioner.
It was pointed out by the court that the corporation cannot be blamed for non-payment when the submission of the fee bill was not in order.
Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the state has close to a dozen additional advocate generals and mentioned that when too many law officers are appointed, each must necessarily be given work, resulting in matters being allotted that may not even require their services.
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He also pointed out that when cases are called, the government counsel seeks adjournment or pass-over on the ground that the additional advocate general has been engaged but is appearing elsewhere.
“I hope that at least in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court such practices will cease and the Additional Advocate Generals will turn a new leaf from 2026,” he added.
The court observed that while it cannot inquire into the quantum of fees paid to senior counsel and law officers, “good governance” requires that public funds are drawn on a measured basis and not distributed capriciously to a favoured few.
Calling Thirumalai’s total claim a “pittance compared to the number of his appearances”, the court expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid to some law officers and senior counsel by the government and quasi-government institutions, including local bodies.
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Background
It was placed on record that Thirumalai was the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for over 14 years, from 1992 to 2006, and had represented the corporation in the Madurai District Courts in around 818 cases.
Noting that the former standing counsel was unable to engage a clerk to obtain certified copies of the 818 cases in which he had appeared, the court directed the district legal services authority to obtain the certified copies of all 818 judgments of the petitioner within two months.
The court further instructed the corporation to pay the district legal services authority the amount incurred in obtaining these records and deduct that amount from the petitioner’s final settlement.
Richa Sahay is a Legal Correspondent for The Indian Express, where she focuses on simplifying the complexities of the Indian judicial system. A law postgraduate, she leverages her advanced legal education to bridge the gap between technical court rulings and public understanding, ensuring that readers stay informed about the rapidly evolving legal landscape.
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