Stormy start to parliament's budget session

July 7, 2014

New Delhi, July 7: The Budget Session of Lok Sabha today started on a tempestuous note with members belonging to several opposition parties storming the Well protesting against inflation and hike in rail fares and prices of petrol, diesel and LPG.

Trouble started as soon as the Question Hour began, with members of Congress, Trinamool Congress, RJD, SP, Aam Aadmi Party and the Left trooping into the Well raising the issue of prices and rail fare hike.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's repeated pleas to allow the questions to be taken up went unheeded, leading to adjournment of the House for nearly 40 minutes.

Today was the first day of the Budget session of the Narendra Modi government.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) members were also in the Well opposing the ordinance on the Polavaram project.

Slogans like "achha din ayega, mahangai badhayega (good days will come, prices will rise)" and 'roll back rail fare hike' were heard. Members also opposed rise in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was seen standing in the aisle, while his party colleagues Jyotiraditya Scindia, Deepinder Singh Hooda, K C Venugopal and several others were in the Well.

RJD's Pappu Yadav was vociferous in his protest as was TMC's Kalyan Banerjee and most of his party colleagues. Bhagwant Singh Mann of AAP was also in the Well and was heard raising the plight of Indians left behind in trouble-torn Iraq.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the House during the entire period of turmoil along with his senior party and ministerial colleagues L K Advani, Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj. Congress President Sonia Gandhi was also seated in the front row of the opposition benches.

Amidst the din, the replies to questions given by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Labour Minister Narendra Singh Tomar could not be heard.

NCP's Supriya Sule, who was asked to raise a question on unemployment, shouted the government's reply was "unsatisfactory and bureaucratic".

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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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