The India Inc will find the cost of fighting a legal battle going up if a suggestion by a Parliamentary Standing Committee to impose higher court fee for the corporate sector is accepted.

The Standing Committee on Law and Justice is understood to have suggested in its report that an ad valorem fee structure for corporate cases be in the Supreme Court to begin with is fixed, depending upon the value of the case.

Money for growth

This way the apex court could generate as much as Rs 1,000 crore and this money could be utilised for the infrastructure development of the judiciary, sources said.

This system could be introduced also in High Courts and sub-ordinate courts which could also generate the much-needed fund for their infrastructure development, they said.
 
Circuit bench

The Committee, headed by E M Sudarsana Natchiappan, Congress Rajya Sabha MP, is also believed to have recommended setting up a circuit bench of the Supreme Court at Chennai.  The committee had earlier suggested setting up circuit courts in four zones so that poor people could avoid coming all the way to the national capital to seek justice. But the suggestion was rejected by the government.

Increase judges

The Committee, which was studying the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill 2008, is also understood to have suggested increasing the strength of judges in the apex court to 30 from 25 at present.

Retirement age

Similarly, the committee is believed to have suggested increasing the retirement age of high court judges to 65 from the present 62.