Delhi High Court Directs Government to Clear Lawyers’ Pending Bills and Fix Online Payment Portal

Delhi High Court addresses fee-bill delays faced by government counsel

The Delhi High Court directed the Delhi Government to take prompt steps to clear long-pending fee bills of lawyers who appear for it and to correct operational problems in the Online Single Window System used for processing such claims. Counsel complained that their bills remained stuck because of repeated objections, absence of Brief Transmission Forms and lack of clarity on the actual status of their submissions.

The Court ordered the Government to make the system more transparent by reflecting pending bills against the name of each counsel. It also directed that Brief Transmission Forms should be issued where court records show that the counsel had appeared. For cases where the BTF is missing, the Government was asked to create a workable mechanism so that payment claims are not indefinitely blocked.

The order seeks both administrative transparency and timely payment to counsel engaged in government litigation.