Dismissed

The State of A.P. rep.by its Secretary v. Inampudi Ramakrishna Rao

Telangana HC3 Apr 2014AS/1201/1995

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Appeal dismissed. The court held that an Assistant Government Pleader is entitled to interest on unpaid professional fees due to government delay, even without a specific agreement, relying on Supreme Court precedent regarding salary arrears and the Interest Act. The 6% per annum rate was upheld as legally correct.

What did the court decide?

The appeal was dismissed, confirming the trial court's decree and the award of interest at 6% p.a.

The State of A.P. rep.by its Secretary Vs… — Contract and Commercial Disputes | Telangana HC (2014)

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HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE M. SATYANARAYANA MURTHY APPEAL SUIT No. 1201 OF 1995

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JUDGMENT:

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The defendants in Original Suit No.41 of 1988, on the file of Subordinate Judge (Now Senior Civil Judge), Tanuku, West Godavari District (For short, ‘the trial Court’), preferred this Appeal against the impugned decree and judgment dated 16.01.1991, wherein the Suit filed for recovery of amount towards advocate fees and expenses for rendering services as Assistant Government Pleader at Tanuku from 12.08.1978 to 22.10.1985, along with subsequent interest at the rate of 6% p.a. from the date of petition till the date of realization, was decreed in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants.

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2. The appellants herein were the defendants and the respondent herein was the plaintiff before the trial Court, in O.S. No.41 of 1988. For the sake of convenience, the parties hereinafter will be referred as arrayed before the trial Court.

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3. The plaintiff filed the Suit for recovery of Rs.97,006-62 paise towards his fee being the Assistant Government Pleader payable by the Government during the period from 12.08.1978 to 22.10.1985 for the services rendered by him as an advocate in defending the Government in different suits. He submitted his bills in accordance with the procedure, but since there was no response from the defendants, the plaintiff issued a notice under Section 80 of C.P.C. demanding payment of advocate fee in various matters together with interest.

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4. The 2^nd defendant filed written statement admitting appointment of plaintiff as Assistant Government Pleader and conducting trial of cases on behalf of the Government in various matters, but denied issuance of notice under Section 80 of C.P.C and thereby the Suit is

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not maintainable. It is further contended that the plaintiff is not entitled to claim interest at any rate and prayed for dismissal of the Suit.

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5. Defendants 1, 3, 15 to 18, 30, 32 and 38 filed memos adopting the written statement filed by the 2^nd defendant.

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6. 31^st defendant filed a separate written statement admitting about conducting of trial in several cases, but the plaintiff claimed only Rs.666/- in each Execution Petition. However, the amount claimed in the plaint is excessive and prayed for dismissal of the Suit.

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7. Basing on the above pleadings, the trial Court framed the following issues:

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1. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to recover the suit amount, or any part thereof, from all, or any of them defendants, as claimed?

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2. Whether the plaintiff is entitled for any interest, and if so, at what rate and for what period?

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3. Whether this Court has no jurisdiction to entertain or adjudicate upon, the subject matters covered by this case?

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4. Whether the statutory notice issued by the plaintiff under Section 80 C.P.C. is valid and according to law?

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5. Whether the suit is not maintainable at law?

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6. To what relief?

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8. During course of trial, on behalf of the plaintiff, PW.1 was examined and Exs.A-1 to A-164 were marked; on behalf of the defendants, DW.1 was examined and Exs.B-1 to B-6 were marked.

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9. Upon hearing argument of both the counsel, perusing oral and documentary evidence available on record, the trial Court decreed the Suit in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants for a total sum of Rs.85,331-64 paise, and granted subsequent interest at the rate of

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6% p.a. from the date of decree till the date of realization.

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10. Aggrieved by grant of subsequent interest at the rate of 6% p.a. on decretal amount of Rs.85,331-64 paise, defendants preferred the present Appeal, mainly contending that the interest at the rate of 6% p.a. on the total sum of Rs.85,331-64 paise awarded by the trial Court, is excessive and in the absence of any agreement for payment of interest, the plaintiff is not entitled to claim interest and prayed to setaside the impugned decree and judgment to the extent of grant of subsequent interest in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants.

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11. During course of argument, learned Government Pleader for appeals mainly contended that the relationship between the Government and the Assistant Government Pleader is only an advocate and client and it is nothing but a trustee and beneficiary, and, in the absence of any agreement for payment of interest on the advocate fee, the plaintiff is not entitled to claim interest against any one of the defendants and prayed to set-aside the impugned decree and judgment of the trial Court.

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12. The short question involved in this appeal is : Whether the plaintiff, who was the Assistant Government Pleader, is entitled to interest on the professional fee payable by the defendants-appellants? If so, at what rate?

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13. POINT: Admittedly, the trial Court awarded interest only at the rate of 6% p.a. on the total sum of Rs.85,331-64 paise from the date of decree till the date of realization. Appellants challenged only interest on the professional fee on the ground that there was no agreement for payment of interest on delayed payment of fee.

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14. Undoubtedly, the plaintiff was appointed as Assistant Government Pleader and appeared in various matters, as admitted by both the parties. However, the question is whether the plaintiff is entitled for interest on the professional fee? In normal course of events, the Government Order by which the plaintiff was appointed is silent with regard to payment of fee, but the plaintiff being Assistant Government Pleader, counsel, defending the Government is entitled to fee as per the Advocates’ Recruitment as Law Officers Rules, 1967. Rule 30 of the said Rules, prescribes the fee payable to the Government Pleaders, Additional Government Pleaders and the Assistant Government Pleaders in Courts subordinate to the High Court and fixed various amounts towards fee payable in different matters but this is not a disputed question. However, under Rule 47 of the said Rules, Government is competent to sanction fee to Law Officers and Assistant Government Pleaders to settle the fee claims ordinarily within a month from the date of receipt of the bills. Here, bills were admittedly submitted by the plaintiff to the Government, for payment of fee payable by the Government to the plaintiff, and having pursued the remedy in different ways, the plaintiff could not recover the fee payable to him in various matters, appeared on behalf of the Government, but no purpose was served, finally a notice dated 24.02.1986, under Section 80 of C.P.C. was issued, but no useful purpose was served and the claim of the plaintiff remained unsettled. Therefore, the plaintiff was constrained to file the Suit for recovery of fee due to him together with interest at the rate of 18% p.a. but the trial Court awarded interest only at the rate of 6% p.a. from the date of decree till the date of realization. 15. Undoubtedly, the G.O.Ms. No.1487, dated 31.08.1967 is silent regarding payment of interest on the advocate fee. However, the Government is bound to pay the fee in accordance with the Advocates’ Recruitment as law Officers Rules and settle the fee claims within one month, as per Rule 47 of the said Rules, but the defendants miserably

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failed to settle the claims, for no reason, exhibiting total callous approach in settling the fee claims of the plaintiff. Therefore, the defendants are responsible for the delay in settling the fee claims of the plaintiff, claimed by him in various letters. In the absence of any contract between the parties, the plaintiff is entitled to claim interest under Section 3(1)(b) of The Interest Act, 1978, which reads as under:

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“If the proceedings do not relate to any such debt, then, from the date mentioned in this regard in a written notice given by the person entitled or the person making the claim to the person liable that interest will be claimed, to the date of institution of the proceedings.”

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16. Therefore, the trial Court awarded interest only by applying Section 3(1)(b) of the Interest Act, as there is no contract between the plaintiff and defendants for payment of interest, but the Court is competent to grant interest at the current rate as defined under Section 2(b) of the Interest Act, on the professional fee payable to the plaintiff by the defendants, even in the absence of any contract for payment of such interest, because of delay caused by the defendants in payment of professional fee of an advocate.

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17. It is settled law that the Government is liable to pay interest on the wages, salaries and even on the pension of an employee, if there is a delay on the part of the Government as held by the Apex Court in

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State of Punjab and others Vs. Krishan Dayal Sharma^[1] , wherein it was held as follows at Para 3 :

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“3. ………………. No doubt the Courts have power to award interest on the arrears of salary or pension or other amount to which a Government servant is found entitled having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case but that power cannot be exercised by the Execution Court in the absence of any direction in the decree.”

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18. In view of the principle laid down by the Apex Court in State of

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Punjab (1^st supra), when there is a delay in payment of salary or wages or any other amount of an employee, the Government is liable

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to pay interest on such delayed amount. Here, the payment of fee is only towards the services rendered by the plaintiff as an Advocate or as an Assistant Government Pleader and the fee payable to him is a remuneration payable to the Assistant Government Pleader, whereas the salary is payable by an employer to the employee. Therefore, both the salary and fee are only remuneration payable to one person by another person. Therefore, the principle laid down by the Apex Court i n State of Punjab (1^st supra) can directly be applied to the present case, and if the same is applied, certainly, the plaintiff is entitled to recover interest on the due amount.

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19. In similar circumstances, a Division Bench of this Court in State

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o f Andhra Pradesh and others Vs. P. Ram Shah and others^[2] , while discussing the liability of the Government to pay interest on the Government Pleaders fee, discussed Sections 3 and 4 of Interest Act, so also Section 34 of C.P.C. and awarded interest at the rate of 6% p.a., which is as follows :

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“20. For the above reasons, the appeals are allowed in part, the decrees passed by the lower Court are set aside, and the claims of the plaintiffs are decreed as follows :-

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(a) In O. S. 1016/1980 there shall be a decree in sum of Rs.53,479.12 ps., with interest at the rate of 6% per annum from 12- 8-1979 (the date of Ex. A27), till the date of realization. If the plaintiff has received any amount in excess of the said figure, whether in pursuance of the interim orders of this Court or otherwise, he shall be liable to refund the said amount with like interest from the date of receipt of the money, till it is reimbursed.

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(b) In O. S. No. 1071/1982, there shall be a decree in a sum of Rs.1,06,958.24 Ps., with interest at the rate of 6% per annum, from 4-12-1980 (the date of notice under S. 80, CPC) till realization.

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(c) In O.S.No.793/1982, there shall be a decree in a sum of Rs.53,479.12 Ps., with interest at the rate of 6% per annum with effect from 3-6-1981 (the date of notice under S. 80, C. P. C i.e. Ex. A1), till the date of realization.

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If the plaintiffs in O. S. 1071/82 and O. S. 793/82 have also withdrawn any excess amount, such excess amount shall be liable to be refunded, with interest at the same rate, as is directed in the case of O. S. 1016/80.”

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20. The principle laid down by this Court in Ram Shah (2^nd supra)

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is directly applicable to the present facts of the case, as the facts in the said decision are almost similar to the facts of the instant case. Hence, by applying the principles laid down in the decisions (cited supra), I find that the plaintiff is entitled to recover interest on the due amount towards advocate fee. Though grant of interest at the rate of 6% p.a. on the total sum of Rs.85,331-64 paise from the date of decree till the date of realization was challenged by the Government-defendants, learned Government Pleader for appeals is unable to satisfy the Court that there was no delay on the part of the Government in payment of fee to the advocate, except procedural delays if any, but as seen from the record, the bills were claimed long back. Though the Government is under an obligation to settle the bills within one month as per Rule 47 of Advocates’ Recruitment as Law Officers Rules, did not settle the matter and even after issuance of notice also no purpose was served. Therefore, in view of the principles laid down by the Apex Court and the Division Bench of this Court, the Government totally failed to honour the bills. Thereby, I find no apparent error or illegality in the impugned judgment warranting interference of this Court. Hence, I find no illegality in granting interest in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants. Accordingly, the point is held in faovur of the plaintiff and against the defendants.

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In the result, the Appeal Suit is dismissed confirming the impugned decree and judgment dated 16.01.1991, passed in Original Suit No.41 of 1988 by the Subordinate Judge, Tanuku.

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In consequence, Miscellaneous Petitions, if any, pending in this Appeal, shall stand dismissed. No order as to costs.

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_____________________________ M. SATYANARAYANA MURTHY,

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Date: 03-04-2014. Dsh

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HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE M. SATYANARAYANA MURTHY

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APPEAL SUIT No. 1201 OF 1995

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