The Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA) has decided to conduct a 'pen down' protest and abstain from court work on Wednesday, April 9 to protest the State's decision to hike court fees. .The move comes after the Kerala Finance Bill of 2025, which raised the court fees in the State, came into force on April 1. In a letter addressed to Kerala High Court Chief Justice Nitin M Jamdar, KHCAA stated that its protest is well justified as the hikes, which range from 400 percent to 9,900 percent violates the fundamental rights of litigants in the state."We are constrained to bring your Lordship's attention to the arbitrary and unreasonable hike in court fees by 400% to 9900% by the unilateral act of the State which directly violates the Article 21 guarantee of Right to Life which includes access to justice," the letter read..KHCAA stated that although the Supreme Court has generally condemned lawyers protests, it has in several judgments, observed that there is an exception when it comes to situations where democracy itself is in danger. The rise in court fees definitely qualifies as one such situation, KHCAA asserted. "The cause that the Bar is raising does not directly affect the Bar but affects millions of people who are not even aware of how their lives will be affected", the letter added.It is in view of this that the Bar body has decided to abstain from work.The letter also suggested that judges can utilise tomorrow to finish penning judgments that they have reserved. "The KHCAA brings your Lordship's attention to the fact that most courts have 'reserved' many judgments and we hope the Judges will fruitfully use 9 April 2025 to pen down a few Judgments," the letter stated. .KHCAA has also filed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the court fee hike. The PIL was heard today and the Court directed the State to submit all the data and relevant material it relied on to arrive at the decision to raise court fees. You can read more about the changes in court fees here..Kerala High Court directs State to submit material/ data relied upon to hike court fees
