Regulation to check lawyer fee is needed, says Supreme Court

In a bid to check growing commercialisation of the legal profession, the Supreme Court has asked the government to ensure that the poor have access to justice delivery system.

The apex court has advised the government to introduce requisite legislative changes for an effective regulatory mechanism to check violation of professional ethics in the legal profession, said a PTI report. The fees charged by the lawyers remains largely unregulated in India. The legal charges of a reputed lawyer could be in lakhs per hearing.

The top court noted that astronomical fee charged by lawyers could deprive the poor the access to quality judicial services. The bench was hearing a case regarding an advocate who had filed a complaint against his client. The top court termed the complaint filed over dishonouring of a cheque as "abuse of the process of law" and quashed it.

While relying on an earlier verdict of the top court, it said commercialisation to the extent of exploiting the litigant and misbehavior to the extent of browbeating the Court by some members of the legal fraternity, breached the professional duties towards the court and the litigant and need to be checked.