Judicial work in different courts of Jharkhand was paralysed on Monday as nearly 35,000 lawyers and advocates went on pen-down strike sporting black badges to protest hike in court fee of state government.

Appellants and those who had come for various judicial works in the court had to return home as most of the lawyers and advocates despite being present in the bar benches refused to take part in judicial works as part of the one day strike called by the Jharkhand State Bar Council (JSBC).

“I had come for an affidavit to the Ranchi civil court taking time off from my work. However, I was unaware of the strike. Now I would have to come again for the same work,” said Ritesh Singh, a native of Ormanjhi, nearly 20km from capital Ranchi.

Rajendra Krishna, the president of the JSBC, admitted the problems faced by the masses but said that they had to resort to the strike to draw attention of the government.

“We had resorted to the strike as it is the clients and poor people who are the worst sufferers from the government decision. The court fees have been almost doubled which will only increase financial burden on the common masses. We demand the government to immediately withdraw the increase in court fees,” said Krishna, adding nearly 35,000 advocates took part in the strike across Jharkhand and that they had given the call well in advance for the masses.

Lawyers threatened of more such agitations if the government does not take back the decision.

Meanwhile, human rights outfit People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Jharkhand unit secretary Arvind Avinash has written to the chief secretary Jharkhand Sukhdev Singh to withdraw the “unreasonable and arbitrary” hike in court fees.

“The Court Fees (Jharkhand Amendment) Act, 2022, has increased the court fee in Jharkhand arbitrarily without any prior consultation or assessing its impact on the general public. As per the new amendment, the application fee for requesting the records from other courts will be Rs 50 from previously charged Rs 5 per application. The affidavit fee has been increased from Rs 5 to Rs 20 and the fee for Vakalatnama has also increased.

“The documents attached to any decision, order, or proceeding would cost Rs 10 per page from the previous fee of Rs 5 per page. A photocopy of the document costs less than a rupee, hence there is no reason to increase the same to Rs 10 as the previous amount of Rs 5 was already sufficient to cover the costs and time,” the PUCL letter states.

“The reasoning provided to increase the court fee — ‘to increase the revenue of the state’ is itself flawed. The Supreme Court in the decision of Secretary, Government of Madras vs. Zenith Lamp and Electrical (1973) held that it is not competent to make the litigants contribute to general public revenue,” the letter informs adding that the hike would adversely impact marginalised population for whom access to justice is already a distant dream given their socio-economic conditions.

“In a state where people are forced to approach the high court in PILs due to inaction by the state, increasing its cost straight to Rs 1,000 will add to the burden on the common man. Needless to state no justifiable reason has been provided for such a hike in the court fee,” the letter adds requesting to not hike the court fees.