PART I FEES OF COUNSEL.
1. In suits for the recovery of specific property or a share of specific property, whether moveable or immovable, or for the breach of any contract or for damages-
(a) if the amount or value of the property, debt or damages decreed shall not exceed rupees five thousand according to the valuation for purposes of appeal to the Court, the fee shall be calculated at seven and a half percent on the amount or value decreed, but the Court may, in any case, otherwise order and fix such percentage as shall appear to the Court to be just and equitable;
(b) if the amount or value decreed shall exceed rupees five thousand, the fee payable shall be calculated at such a percentage as shall appear to the Court to be just and equitable
2. In suits for injuries to the person or character of the plaintiff, such as suits for assault or defamation or for injuries to property or to enforce rights where the pecuniary value of such injury or right cannot be exactly defined, _ as in suits for interference with a right to light or water, or to enforce a right of pre-emption, or suits for the partition of joint property, where partition is improperly resisted _, if the plaintiff succeeds, the Court may order the fee allowed to the plaintiff to be calculated with reference either to the amount decreed or according to the valuation of the suit or according to such sum not exceeding the valuation, as the Court shall think reasonable and shall fix with reference to the importance of the subject matter in dispute. In any such case, the amount of the fee shall be calculated according to rule1.
3. If the suit be dismissed for default or upon the merits, the fee allowed to the defendant shall be calculated according to rule 1 on the whole value of the suit.
1. If the suit shall be decreed for the plaintiff as to part only of the claim, and as to the remainder shall be dismissed, the fee allowed to each party should be fixed with reference to the value of that part of the claim in respect of which he shall succeed, and shall be calculated according to rule 1.
5. If in any suit for damages, the plaintiff succeeds as to the whole of his cause of action, but fails to recover the full amount of
damages claimed, the defendant shall not be entitled to any allowance for counsel in respect of the difference between the amount of damages claimed and the amount recovered, unless the Court shall be of opinion that the amount claimed for damages was unreasonable or excessive and shall, for that or any other cause, direct that a fee be allowed to the defendant.
If specially allowed, the amount of such fee shall be fixed with reference to the amount of damages disallowed to the plaintiff and shall be calculated according to rule 1.
6. If several defendants who have a joint or common interest succeed upon a joint defence, or upon separate defences substantially the same, not more than one fee shall be allowed, unless the Court shall otherwise order. If only one fee be allowed, the Court shall direct to which of the defendants it shall be paid or shall apportion it among the several defendants in such manner as the Court shall think fit.
7. If several defendants, who have separate interests, set up separate and distinct defences and succeed thereon, a fee for each of the defendants who shall appear by separate counsel may be allowed in respect of his separate interest. Such fee, if allowed, shall be calculated, with reference to the value of the separate interest of such defendants, according to rule1.
8. In any miscellaneous proceeding or for any matter other than that of appearing, acting or pleading in a suit prior to decree, the fee shall be fixed by the Court with reference to the nature and importance of the proceeding or matter
9. If a suit in the High Court, as a Court of original jurisdiction, be undefended, the fee shall be calculated at one - half the sum fixed for a defended suit of the same nature and value.
10. If a review be rejected after summoning the opposite party or if, after the admission of a review, the former judgment be upheld, the fee, if allowed to the successful party in the review, shall be fixed by the Court at an amount which shall not in any case exceed one-half of the amount allowed by these rules in case of an original decree.
11 If, after the admission of a review, the former judgment be revised, the fee in respect of the review, if allowed to the party who succeeds in the review, shall not exceed one-half the
amount allowed by these rules in case of an original decree. The fee allowed in respect of the review will be irrespective of any fee which may be included in any costs in respect of the original suit which may be adjudged to the successful party by the judgment in review, unless the Court shall otherwise order.
12. In appeals the fee shall be calculated on the same scale as in original suits, and the principles of the above rules as to original suits shall be applied as nearly as may be.
13. When the interest of several appellants is joint, no more than one fee shall be allowed, unless the Court shall otherwise order. If one fee only be allowed, the Court shall direct to which of the appellants it shall be paid or shall apportion it amongst the several appellants in such proportion as it shall think fit
14. If several respondents in one appeal appear by separate counsel, in determining whether separate fees shall be allowed, the Court shall be guided by the principles laid down in rules 6 and 7.
15. If, in any instance, the payment of fees according to the preceding rules shall not appear to the Court to be just and equitable, the Court may exercise its discretion in allowing such fee as may appear just and equitable:
Provided that in the case of a party represented by any Advocate
(a) who is known or reputed to have any dealing, communication or correspondence, directly or indirectly, with a dalal or with any person who frequents any railway station, sarai or other place as a tout or
(b) who is known or reputed to employ in any capacity whatsoever any such person or any person who frequents any railway station, sarai or other place as a tout,
the Court may order that no fee be allowed to such party for such Advocate or may, in its discretion, allow a fee for the same not exceeding the following sums, that is to say, _
(i) In first appeals from original decrees and in suits before the Court in the exercise of its ordinary or extraordinary original jurisdiction,-Rs.75/-.
(ii) In all other cases, the fee allowable under the above rules up to a maximum of Rs.15/-.
Provided also that, if an appeal be preferred against a decree passed on remand, the fee, if any, allowed by the Court to the
party succeeding in that appeal, shall not, unless the Court shall otherwise order, be less than one-quarter, nor more than one-half of the amount which would be allowed under the rules upon an original hearing, if, by the decree remanding the case, the same party shall have been allowed fees in respect of the former appeal in the suit, either absolutely or conditionally upon his succeeding upon the remand:
Provided also that if an issue be framed and referred by the Court for trial by a lower court, the Court may, if it thinks proper, allow to the party who shall succeed in the appeal, such sum as the Court shall consider reasonable, not exceeding half the amount which would be allowed under these rules in an original case, for his fee in respect of the trial of the issue in the lower court, in addition to a fee in respect of the appeal.
16. Notwithstanding anything contained in the rules of the Court but subject to any order of a Judge or Judges in cases of hardship no fee for the appearance of any Advocate shall, except as in these rules hereinafter provided, be allowed on taxation between party and be allowed on taxation between party and party, or shall be included in any decree or order unless the Taxing Officer is satisfied that the fee was paid to the Advocate before the hearing and unless the party claiming to have such fee allowed shall, before the hearing, file in the office of the Taxing Officer, a certificate signed by the Advocate, as the case may be, certifying the amount of the fee or fees actually paid by or on behalf of his client to him or to any other Advocate in whose place he may have appeared.
16-A The Law Officers are excluded from the operation of rule 16. It is left to the discretion of the Court to fix a fee with reference to the salary of the Law Officer concerned and the time taken in the hearing.
17. Such certificate shall state,__
(a) the case, matter or proceeding in respect of which such fee or fees was or were paid;
(b) the date or dates when such fee or fees was or were actually paid to the Advocate engaged in the case, matter or proceeding either as the exclusive fee or fees of such Advocate or as the fee or fees of the Advocates associated and to be associated in the case, matter or proceeding in the High Court;
(c) the precise amount or amounts which was or were so paid;
(d) that no portion of such fee or fees has been returned, and that no agreement for return or remission of the same has been made, by the Advocate or by any one on his behalf; and
(e) the name and address of the person who made such payment:
- Provided that when a higher fee than is allowed by the scale is allowed by special order of the Court, a certificate of the payment of the additional fee at any time may be accepted, if filed before taxation in lieu of the certificate required by these rules.
18. The certificate mentioned in rule 16 shall, so far as possible, be in the following form:-
IN THE LAHORE HIGH COURT, LAHORE.*
Between____________________and ________________________________
For the purpose of presentation to the Taxing Officer and having my fee allowed on taxation as against the party or parties, who may be liable for costs under the judgment or order of Court, I,_______________, in accordance with rule 17 of the rules regulating the fees of counsel in the Court, hereby certify that in the
above_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
the following fees were paid to me as my exclusive fee (or as my fee as well as that of _________who was associated/were to be associated with me in the case) on the dates and by the person or persons specified below, and that no portion of such fees has been returned and that no agreement for such return or remission has been made by me or by any one on my behalf or on behalf of ____________ who was/were associated with me in the case:-
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Matter. |
Fee. |
Date of payment. |
By whom paid. |
Address of person who actually made such payment. |
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Signature__________________________________________________________
Date of Signature _________________________________________________
Address of Advocate _______________________________________________
Filed on the _______________day of ___________________by ___________
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Note: In the certificates of fees filed by the legal practitioners engaged by Government in cases in which the Federal or Provincial Government is a party, it is sufficient to certify that a fee has been fixed (not paid) by the Solicitor to Government, Punjab. The same procedure may, by a resolution of the Judges in meeting, be extended to counsel appearing on behalf of an Official Liquidator appointed by the High Court.
19. Counsel engaged in matrimonial causes in the High Court should, when filing a certificate required by rule 16, submit a detail of the work done or to be done by them for which they have charged their clients. Only those charges which are necessary to enable the parties to conduct the litigation will be allowed by the Taxing Officer who will bear in mind that the object in giving costs is to indemnify the successful party against the expenses to which he has been put by the unsuccessful party. The maximum fee in a defended matrimonial cause shall be Rs. 1,500/-; and half that amount in undefended causes, provided that the Judge, who tries the case, may allow the full fee in an undefended cause, should the nature of the work done by counsel warrant it.
Note: For rules regarding fees of counsel in subordinate courts, see Chapter 16-B, High Court Rules and Orders, Volume I.
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