Lawyers with chambers on the premises of courts in the Delhi region – the Supreme Court, Delhi High Court and various Local Courts – will now benefit from power subsidy after a notification was issued to that effect last week.
The official circular came after lieutenant governor Anil Baijal approved a Delhi Cabinet decision under which such lawyers‘ chambers will be charged domestic power rates rather than the commercial ones currently applicable which are substantially higher.
The order issued by the department of power noted that the provisions of the electricity subsidy available in the region would be extended to all individual lawyers who have their chambers inside court complexes within NCT of Delhi .
Bills Reduced To Half
In the scheme, lawyers who consume up to 400 units of electricity will receive a 50% subsidy on their bills. On ground, it will translate into the electricity bills for the lawyers reducing by half next month onwards.
The subsidy amount will be adjusted against the final amount payable as it is done currently for the 36 lakh domestic consumers in Delhi who come under the special subsidy scheme.
The scheme is slated to be retrospective starting October 1 and will remain in force till March 31, 2018. The scheme will then get formalised in the next financial year with its inclusion into the state budget. As a result lawyers will continue getting the benefit of lower electricity bills, a government official noted.
Lawyers’ chambers on court premises were being considered as a part of the domestic category before 2014. However this changed in 2014 when the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Authority decided to bill the consumption of such chambers at commercial rates.
Long Standing Demand Of Lawyers
The lawyers have been demanding the repeal of this decision since the change. In October this year, the Delhi cabinet accepted the power department’s proposal to bring in the chambers within the subsidy scheme.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi had promised in the 2015 assembly polls that it would provide the lawyers with subsidised power similar to that being extended to domestic consumers.
Rajiv Khosla, former president, Delhi High Court Bar Association welcomed the notification saying the scheme will “benefit 9,000 to 10,000 lawyers” who have chambers in various court premises.
