Quoting Prophet Mohammed’s teaching on timely payment, Justice G R Swaminathan directed the Madurai Corporation to clear Rs 13.05 lakh in pending fees of its former lawyer. The Court also criticised the practice of paying huge amounts to senior counsels while delaying dues of working advocates.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has strongly criticised the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for not paying the long-pending professional fees of its former standing counsel.
Justice G R Swaminathan, while deciding the case on December 19, relied on principles of fairness and timely payment, and even quoted a well-known saying attributed to Prophet Muhammad to stress the moral duty of employers to pay workers without delay.
The case was filed by advocate P Thirumalai, who served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this long period, he represented the civic body in hundreds of cases before courts in Madurai district.
His grievance before the High Court was that despite rendering extensive legal services, the Corporation failed to clear his professional fee bills.
While examining the issue, Justice Swaminathan strongly disapproved of the way government bodies spend money on legal representation.
He pointed out the practice of engaging senior advocates for matters where their presence was not actually necessary and highlighted the large amounts paid to some law officers.
Referring to such practices, the judge observed,
“The university, which is pleading that its financial situation is such that it is unable to pay the dues of its retired staff has no difficulty in paying exorbitant fees to its counsel,”
drawing attention to the imbalance between claims of financial distress and actual spending patterns.
Justice Swaminathan further noted that senior law officers were being unnecessarily engaged even for minor cases.
He remarked that
“Additional Advocate Generals appeared even for small matters where their presence was not really required and where even a ‘novice of the government counsel could handle’,”
questioning the need for such expensive legal representation.
Criticising the mindset behind these payments, the judge remarked,
“All this for a few pennies. Marking appearance is a matter of money. It is time an audit is undertaken regarding the payment of fees to the law officers,”
and stressed the need for transparency and accountability in public spending on legal fees.
Coming to the specific case of the petitioner, the Court took note of the fact that P Thirumalai had approached the High Court as early as 2006 seeking payment of his dues. According to him, the total amount payable was Rs 14.07 lakh. However, the Corporation had paid only Rs 1.02 lakh, leaving a balance of Rs 13.05 lakh unpaid for several years.
Justice Swaminathan, while ordering relief in favour of the lawyer, invoked a well-known moral principle and stated,
“pay the worker before his sweat dries,’ is an instruction attributed to the Holy Prophet (PBUH).”
Explaining the relevance of this principle, the judge further observed,
“This principle is only a facet of fairness and is eminently applicable in labour jurisprudence. It can also be invoked in the case on hand,”
making it clear that timely payment is not just a legal requirement but also a matter of basic justice.
The Court noted that the petitioner had appeared in as many as 818 cases on behalf of the Corporation. It also recorded submissions that the lawyer was in severe financial difficulty and was unable to even afford the cost of obtaining certified copies of court records required to prove his claims.
Taking a practical approach, the High Court directed the Legal Services Authority attached to the Madurai District Court to verify the list of cases handled by the petitioner. The Authority was also directed to obtain certified copies of the relevant case records and provide them to the petitioner within two months.
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After verification of the fee bills, the Madurai City Municipal Corporation was directed to settle the verified amount within a further period of two months. The Court clarified that the payment would be made without interest.
The judgment sends a strong message to government bodies and public institutions on the need to treat legal professionals fairly, ensure prompt payment for services rendered, and review excessive spending on senior counsels, especially when ordinary matters can be handled by junior or regular government advocates.
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