Confident of defeating no-trust vote: BJP

Agencies

July 19, 2018

New Delhi, Jul 19: The BJP on Thursday expressed the confidence that it would be able to defeat the Opposition sponsored no-confidence motion on Friday, as it has a majority in the Lok Sabha. It was also hopeful of support from some Opposition parties.

“The numbers are very clear. The BJP by itself has a majority in the Lower House. We have nearly 314 members within the NDA [National Democratic Alliance] and there are many other parties which are likely to oppose this no-confidence motion because this is completely pointless,” BJP national spokesperson G.V.L Narasimha Rao told reporters outside Parliament.

“We have the numbers and we have the moral fibre to fight this negative Opposition, which is only trying to put the country on the path of negativity,” he said.

The motion will be the first since the BJP-led NDA government came to power four years ago. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s decision to accept the motion moved by former BJP ally TDP and others came on the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament on Wednesday.

Swamy slams TDP

Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy took potshots at the TDP, questioning their intent when their Ministers were part of the government in the past four years.

“The TDP is moving the resolution and saying four years of BJP rule is useless. In fact, there were [TDP] Ministers in these four years. In a democracy, the Opposition must be vigorous, must expose with facts and figures,” he told reporters,.

Sources in the BJP said the government would get the support of at least 314 members in the Lower House, which has an effective strength of 533 members.

The Trinamoolm Congress has said it will support the no-confidence motion and that a whip has been issued to its members asking them to be present in the House on Friday.

'Sonia's maths is weak'

The BJP also made light of the Congress’s claim that the Opposition had the numbers to back its no-confidence motion against the government.

Asked about Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s claim that the Opposition had numbers, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar took a dig at her, saying, “Sonia Gandhi’s maths is weak.”

Mr. Kumar also recalled that Gandhi, as the then Congress chief in 1999, had claimed to have the support of 272 MPs, the majority mark in the Lok Sabha, after the fall of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government.

Echoing similar sentiments, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said the government had the strength in the House to defeat the motion if one went by Indian mathematics and wondered if Sonia Gandhi knew some other mathematics.

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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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