Raajesh S . Subrahmanian vs Corporation Of Kochi
2022 Latest Caselaw 9131 Ker

                IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
                                PRESENT
              THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE P.V.KUNHIKRISHNAN
     WEDNESDAY, THE 27TH DAY OF JULY 2022 / 5TH SRAVANA, 1944
                        WP(C) NO. 15911 OF 2022
PETITIONER:

          RAAJESH S . SUBRAHMANIAN
          AGED 45 YEARS
          S/O. S.V HARIHARA SUBRAMANIAN, ADVOCATE, NO. 29, INFANT
          JESUS BUILDING - 3, OPP. HIGH COURT OF KERALA
          (GATE NO. 1), KOCHI - 682031.
          BY ADVS.
          P.B.SAHASRANAMAN
          T.S.HARIKUMAR


RESPONDENTS:

    1     CORPORATION OF KOCHI
          PARK AVENUE, KOCHI - 682011,
          REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY.
    2     THE SECRETARY,
          CORPORATION OF KOCHI,
          PARK AVENUE, KOCHI - 682011.
    3     THE MAYOR
          CORPORATION OF KOCHI,
          PARK AVENUE, KOCHI - 682011.
    4     THE CHAIRMAN.
          STANDING COMMITTEE FOR FINANCE,
          CORPORATION OF KOCHI,
          PARK AVENUE, KOCHI - 682011.
          BY ADV K.B.ARUNKUMAR, SC



     THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON
27.07.2022, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
 WP(C) NO. 15911 OF 2022
                                     2


               P.V.KUNHIKRISHNAN, J.
              ------------------------------
             W.P.(C).No. 15911 of 2022
      ----------------------------------------------
        Dated this the 27th day of July, 2022


                          JUDGMENT

The above writ petition is filed with the following

prayers:

"(i) Issue a writ of Mandamus or other appropriate writ, order or direction to the respondents to dispose the arrears of entire professional fees as mentioned in Exhibit P1 and P2 along with interest within a time frame to be fixed by this Hon'ble Court;

(ii) Such other relief's which this Hon'ble Court deems fit and necessary in the circumstances of the case and the costs of this case. "[SIC]

2. The petitioner was the Standing counsel for

the 1st respondent Kochi Corporation for the period from

2011-2021. It is the case of the petitioner that, he had

submitted the bill towards special fee in respect of the

cases conducted by him during the period of his tenure

as the Standing counsel, but was not settled by the

respondents. According to the petitioner, about 138 files WP(C) NO. 15911 OF 2022

are pending consideration before the 1 st respondent.

When this writ petition came up for consideration on

06.06.2022, this Court passed the following order:

"Admit.

Standing Counsel takes notice for the respondents.

Standing Counsel to file counter affidavit, if any, within four weeks.

In the meanwhile, there will be an interim order directing the respondents to pay the admitted amount to the petitioner within a period of four weeks."

3. When it was submitted that the above order is

not complied, this Court passed an order on 12.07.2022,

which is extracted hereunder:

"Admittedly the order dated 6-6-2022 is not complied with. The 2nd respondent will appear in person before this Court on 27-7-2022 for explaining the reason for not complying with the interim order. In the meanwhile if the interim order is complied with, the appearance is dispensed with."

4. Now the Standing counsel appearing for the

respondents submitted that, about 75,000/- rupees is

already paid and some of the files are misplaced. An

extension petition is filed praying time for a further WP(C) NO. 15911 OF 2022

period of two weeks to settle the entire bill amount.

Standing counsel for the respondents also submitted

that, some of the files are misplaced and the petitioner

was requested to give the details of the back files. But

the counsel appearing for the petitioner submitted that,

those back files are already handed over. Whatever that

may be, the bill amount has to be settled by the

respondents which is the duty of the respondent

Corporation. The 1st respondent should settle the entire

amount due to the petitioner, within a time frame.

Therefore, this writ petition is disposed of in the

following manner:

i. The respondents in this writ petition will

see that the entire amount due to the petitioner

towards advocate fee is disbursed, as expeditiously

as possible, at any rate, with in a period of one

month from the date of receipt of a copy of this

judgment.

Sd/-

P.V.KUNHIKRISHNAN DM JUDGE WP(C) NO. 15911 OF 2022

APPENDIX OF WP(C) 15911/2022

PETITIONER EXHIBITS EXHIBIT P1 TRUE PHOTOCOPY OF THE COMMUNICATION DATED 08.02.2021 ALONG WITH THE LIST OF PENDING BILLS WHICH HAS BEEN DULY ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE OFFICE OF THE 1ST RESPONDENT.

EXHIBIT P2 TRUE PHOTOCOPY OF THE REPRESENTATION MADE TO THE 2ND RESPONDENT DATED 10.05.2022 BY E-MAIL.

EXHIBIT P3 TRUE PHOTOCOPY OF THE INTERIM ORDER DATED 08.04.2022 IN WP(C) NO. 12576 OF 2022.

RESPONDENT EXHIBITS EXHIBIT R1(A) THE DETAILS OF THE CHEQUE NUMBER, DATES OF CHEQUES, CASE NUMBERS RELATED TO THE DISBURSEMENT OF FEES ARE SHOWN IN A TABULATED STATEMENT.

//TRUE COPY//

PA TO JUDGE