No rollback of court fee hike: govt to HC

The Delhi government on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that it was unwilling to amend the Court Fee (Delhi Amendment) Act, 2012 and roll back the ten-fold hike in the court fee.

The Delhi government on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that it was unwilling to amend the Court Fee (Delhi Amendment) Act, 2012 and roll back the ten-fold hike in the court fee.

HT Image

Delhi government’s standing counsel (civil) Najmi Waziri told a bench of acting chief justice AK Sikri and Rajiv Sahai Endlaw that “the legislation is a valid one and it cannot be altered at the moment”.

He, however, added that “if any representation comes from lawyers’ body, the government would discuss it during the ensuing assembly session”.

The lawyers’ body contended before the bench that no meeting was held by the government over the issue despite the court’s suggestion to resolve it.

The bench subsequently fixed September 10 to hear the final arguments on the Delhi High Court Bar Association’s plea “to declare the Court Fee (Delhi Amendment) Act, 2012, as void, ultra vires and unconstitutional as it was in the nature of collecting revenue and beyond the competence of the state legislature”.