Kerala High Court slaps ₹50k costs on NCTE for failing to pay fees to its lawyer

The Kerala High Court recently ordered the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) to clear outstanding legal fees payable to advocate VM Kurian, a lawyer who had represented the NCTE in about 590 cases over nearly two decades, before he passed away in 2018 [Mathew B Kurian v NCTE & ors].The late lawyer's son, advocate Mathew B Kurian, had moved the High Court for relief, claiming that the NCTE had failed to clear legal fees amounting to over ₹12 lakhs, despite repeated reminders and regular invoices. Justice Mohammed Nias CP cited Bar Council of India Rules on remuneration for legal services, to note that the legal profession rested on a contract between lawyer and client, of trust and fair compensation.The judge added that non-payment of legal fees to a lawyer leads to exploitation of legal professionals."The fair payment to the Advocates is essential to ensure the independence, dignity and non- subordination of the legal profession and is also quintessential to maintain the ethical integrity. Non-payment or arbitrary denial of fees leads to exploitation of legal professionalism, which hinders access to justice. A reading of the (BCI) rules and the interpretation thereof leaves no doubt that, if a client agrees to pay and then refuses after receiving services, such conduct is unjustifiable and condemnable," the Court held. .The Court proceeded to order NCTE to clear its pending legal fee payments within two weeks, and also imposed costs of ₹50,000 on it."As I have already held that the conduct of the respondents is blameworthy, I am inclined to order an amount of Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand only) as costs payable to the petitioner alongwith the fee directed above," the Court said. .The petitioner, advocate Mathew B Kurian, had submitted that the NCTE owed over ₹12.11 lakhs in pending legal fees to his father, Advocate VM Kurian. Advocate VM Kurian had been appointed by the NCTE as its standing counsel in 2000. He represented the NCTE in over 590 cases before he passed away in 2018. Despite repeated requests, the NCTE failed to clear certain legal fee dues payable to Advocate VM Kurian. Interim directions had earlier been passed for partial payment of these dues, but many bills, some dating back to 2004, remained unpaid..In support of this claim, Kurian also submitted a tabulated summary of cases handled by his father for the NCTE in which the legal fee was yet to be paid.The NCTE's counsel submitted that under certain guidelines applicable to NCTE, the bills should be structured in a certain way, and further that fee payments would be subject to fund availability.Advocate Mathew Kurian responded by stating that these new guidelines should not apply retrospectively to bills raised before December 2017..The Court noted that there was no dispute regarding the engagement of the petitioner's father as a standing counsel to represent NCTE or his appearances in court in such capacity. It further observed that NCTE had never objected to the work done by the counsel. Therefore, there was no valid reason to withhold the pending legal fee payments, the Court ruled. "In the instant case, there is no dispute that there was an engagement by NCTE. There is no dispute that 590 cases have been disposed of. There is no allegation that the lawyer concerned had not appeared or that the cases had not been disposed of. Only ten cases are shown where the NCTE is not a party. Under such circumstances, there is no justification at all for non-payment of the agreed fees to the petitioner for the services rendered," the Court's judgment said..The Court also dismissed the NCTE's objection on whether the petition was maintainable. Referring to Supreme Court and High Court precedents, the Court clarified that writ petitions seeking professional fees from the State agencies were maintainable under Article 226 of the Constitution even if disputed facts existed..The Court proceeded to order NCTE to pay the outstanding legal fees within two months..Advocate Jacob Sebastian represented the petitioner, advocate Mathew B Kurian, Partner at M/s. Peter & Karunakar.Standing Counsel Abraham P Meachinkara appeared for NCTE..[Read Judgment]