After 48 hrs, India yet to get Jadhav's documents

April 17, 2017

New Delhi, Apr 17: India has not received the certified copies of the charge sheet and orders of a Pakistan military court which awarded death sentence to former Indian Navy officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, almost 48 hours after making the official request.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Bagley said on Sunday that the government was yet to receive the documents, which are essential to prepare Jadhav’s legal defence in Pakistan’s supreme court.

The request was made by the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Gautam Bambawale on Friday afternoon when he met Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua.

He also sought consular access to Jadhav for the 14th time, even though Pakistan had denied every request made so far.

Indian officials said the top brass of the government was in touch with Jadhav’s family, but that copies of the charge sheet and court order are required to file an appeal in the higher judiciary in Pakistan.

After Bambawala’s meeting with Tehmina, Pakistan prime minister’s advisor Sartaj Aziz issued a statement detailing some of the charges against the Indian veteran. Aziz said the conviction was based on “specific and credible” evidence.

The former diplomat, however, had taken an opposite stand in the Pakistan senate in December, saying the evidence against Jadhav was “not conclusive”.

Meanwhile, the two neighbours have pressed the pause button on their bilateral engagements — a pre-scheduled meeting between the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) has been cancelled.

The meeting, that was to start on Monday, would have come against a backdrop of the ICG rescuing two PMSA personnel off the coast of Gujarat, after their boat met with an accident.

Neither the ICG nor the Ministry of External Affairs said anything on record about the meeting that stands cancelled.

A technical meeting, on the Indus Water Treaty, between commissioners from both countries was shelved as well. The meeting, which was to take place in Washington, was a proposal from the World Bank which is mediating between the two nations.

Pak to submit new dossier to UN

Pakistan has prepared a new dossier about the alleged militant activities of Indian prisoner on death row Kulbhushan Jadhav and will share it with the UN and foreign envoys stationed in Islamabad, media reports have said, reports PTI.

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‘Pay the worker before his sweat dries’: Madras High Court cites Prophet Muhammad’s teaching while ordering settlement of dues

News Network

December 21,2025

Invoking the teachings of Prophet Muhammad—“pay the worker before his sweat dries”—the Madras High Court has directed a municipal corporation to settle long-pending legal dues owed to a former counsel. The court observed that this principle reflects basic fairness and applies equally to labour and service-related disputes.

Justice G. R. Swaminathan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by advocate P. Thirumalai, who claimed that the Madurai City Municipal Corporation failed to pay him legal fees amounting to ₹13.05 lakh. Earlier, the High Court had asked the corporation to consider his representation. However, a later order rejected a major portion of his claim, prompting the present petition.

The court allowed Thirumalai to approach the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and submit a list of cases in which he had appeared. It also directed the corporation to settle the verified fee bills within two months, without interest. The court noted that the petitioner had waited nearly 18 years before challenging the non-payment and that the corporation could not be fully blamed, as the fee bills were not submitted properly.

‘A Matter of Embarrassment’

Justice Swaminathan described it as a “matter of embarrassment” that the State has nearly a dozen Additional Advocate Generals. He observed that appointing too many law officers often leads to unnecessary allocation of work and frequent adjournments, as government counsel claim that senior officers are engaged elsewhere.

He expressed hope that such practices would end at least in the Madurai Bench of the High Court and added that Additional Advocate Generals should “turn a new leaf” from 2026 onwards.

‘Scandalously High Amounts’

While stating that the court cannot examine the exact fees paid to senior counsel or law officers, Justice Swaminathan stressed that good governance requires public funds to be used prudently. He expressed concern over the “scandalously high amounts” paid by government and quasi-government bodies to a few favoured law officers.

In contrast, the court noted that Thirumalai’s total claim was “a pittance” considering the large number of cases he had handled.

Background

Thirumalai served as the standing counsel for the Madurai City Municipal Corporation for more than 14 years, from 1992 to 2006. During this period, he represented the corporation in about 818 cases before the Madurai District Courts.

As the former counsel was unable to hire a clerk to obtain certified copies of judgments in all 818 cases, the court directed the District Legal Services Authority to collect the certified copies within two months. The court further ordered the corporation to bear the cost incurred by the DLSA and deduct that amount from the final settlement payable to the petitioner.

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