The Legal Services Authority (Nalsa) functioning under the patronship of Chief Justice of India S.H. Kapadia has come out with a series of measures to improve the free legal aid to the poor, who could not afford to engage lawyers to fight their cases due to their high fee.
In its National Plan of Action-2010-11 the most important step taken by Nalsa, whose executive chairman is Supreme Court’s senior most judge, Justice Altams Kabir, the body has increased the remunerations to lawyers at all levels to ensure that the poor people also get the services of reasonably good advocates.
Nalsa’s member secretary Sharat Chandra said the “honorarium” to the lawyers to be engaged under the free legal aid scheme would get Rs 10,000 per month for being hired to fight the cases in the Supreme Court, Rs 7,500 in high courts, Rs 5,000 in district court and Rs 3,000 in taluka courts.
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SC to review Domestic Violence Act
Age Correspondent
New Delhi
May 17: The Supreme Court will examine the implications of the Domestic Violence Act, 2005 in respect of its applicability — whether it would have retrospective effect or prospective — with several high courts giving conflicting opinion on the issue.
A bench of Justices Altamas Kabir, T.S. Thakur and C.K. Prasad issued notice to the Centre seeking its reply within four weeks after the matter was brought before the apex court in different sets of special leave petitions.
Akilesh Verma filed the main petition after the Delhi high court in a case filed against him by his spouse, had made the act applicable with retrospective effect.
The act passed in 2005 was notified by the Union government in 2006 and the issues before the different HCs was whether a wife could invoke the provisions of the legislation in the cases of “domestic violence” perpetuated by their husbands even before the notification of the act.