Clear bills of empanelled lawyers within four weeks: Delhi HC to AAP govt

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the AAP government to clear within four weeks all the bills generated by its empanelled lawyers on or before February 1, 2020.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan issued the interim direction while hearing a lawyer's plea claiming that fees or bills of several Delhi government lawyers have been pending for long.

The high court also asked the central government to ensure that bills of its empanelled lawyers are also cleared. The petition has also claimed that for most of the empanelled lawyers, the fees from the Delhi government could be the sole source of income.

During the brief hearing via video conference, the bench expressed displeasure with regard to the delay in clearance of the professional fees of the Delhi government empanelled lawyers.

It warned the Delhi government that if the bills are not cleared, then it will stop the salaries of the concerned bureaucrats, including the Secretary of the finance department.

The Delhi government told the court that a meeting was held on Monday on the issue and it has been decided to set up an online single window system for receiving and clearing the bills of its lawyers.

The court, thereafter, listed the matter for further hearing on September 29 and asked the Delhi government not to wait till the last week to start clearing the bills. "From today itself you start slowly clearing the bills," the bench said.

(Photo Credit: PTI)