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Journalism of Courage
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed an advocate to refund Rs 10,000, taken as fee from a complainant for filing a petition which was never filed. Advocate Narinder Kumar Saneja has also been directed to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation for harassment. The complainant, R K Goel, had approached Saneja in connection with a case booked by the Jagadhri police against his son Ajay Goel. Saneja informed him that the case was not under the jurisdiction of the Jagadhri District Court and advised him to file a Writ Petition in the High Court over the jurisdiction issue, for which a fee of Rs 10,000 was settled. Later, the complainant discovered that the case was indeed under the jurisdiction of the Jagadhri District Court. He asked for his money back from the advocate as the petition to be filed was of no use. But Saneja refused to refund the amount. In his reply, the advocate claimed a fee of Rs 20,000 had been settled upon and the balance Rs 10,000 had not been paid. Also, the complaint was first filed with the Bar Council of India and the appeal is pending there, he added. The forum said: 8220;Whether the advocate is entitled to retain the fee is a moot question as he did not perform the duty for which the fee was meant. By not refunding the amount promptly, he caused mental and physical harassment to the complainant and forced him to approach the forum.8221;
