Citizens must stand up against CAA; India facing the biggest challenge since Independence: Arundhati Roy

News Network

December 17, 2019

Dec 7: Renowned Indian author Arundhati Roy urged the citizens of India to stand up against the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

In a statement on the nationwide protests on CAA, the writer said on Monday that the government is set to “break the back of our Constitution and cut the ground from under our feet”.

Roy spoke about demonetization and blamed it for the downfall of the Indian economy. She said, “Three years ago, we stood in line obediently outside banks as demonetisation was imposed on us, a policy that broke the back of our country’s economy.”

Three years ago, on November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the discontinuation of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes out of the blue. Modi had informed that the notes won’t be valid after a set period. The citizens were given less than two months to get their soon to be invalid currency notes exchanged for the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes.

Several people had lost their lives and savings post demonetization and the financial markets still claim to be reviving from its effects.

Roy reminded people about the post-demonetization period and said, “Are we going to stand in line once again, obediently, and comply with the policy that eerily resembles the 1935 Nuremberg Laws of the Third Reich,” Roy asked. She said we India will cease to exist if we accept this, adding that “we are faced with the biggest challenge since Independence.”

“Stand up,” she said. “Please. Stand up”.

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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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