Amid ICJ battle over Jadhav, India to release 11 Pak prisoners today in ‘goodwill gesture’

Agencies

June 12, 2017

New Delhi, Jun 12: Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a small casual meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharis at the SCO Summit in Astana, India will today release 11 Pakistani civil prisoners in a “goodwill gesture”, says a media report.

Pakistan had sought the release of these prisoners as they had all completed their sentence. The move by India comes at a time when the two nations are fighting a legal battle at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the death sentence of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav ordered by a Pakistani military court.

Days ago, PM Modi had met Sharif on the sidelines of the Summit in Kazakhstan where the two nations permanent members of the SCO.

The report cited sources saying that Pm Modi enquired about Sharif’s health and also about his mother and family.

Last week, India had released two kids – Ali Raza (11) and Babar (10) – who had inadvertently crossed the international border in Punjub along with their uncle Mohammed Shahzad who continues to be in India’s custody.

The kids were to be released in April but Indian authorities had put it on hold after Pakistan announced the death sentence to Jadhav.

Over the issue of releasing the 11 Pakistani prisoners, the report cited Indian officials saying that it was a humanitarian issue and should not be linked with further downturn in ties over Jadhav.

They added that with this “goodwill gesture”, the government hopes that Islamabad too will facilitate the release of Indian prisoners lodged in Pakistani jails.

According to the government, there are 132 Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails, out of which 57 have already served their jail term. Pakistan says that India has to confirm their nationality before it releases them.

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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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