Supreme Court lauds Senior Counsel R Basant for mediating decade-old dispute sans remuneration

While the hefty fees charged by top Senior Advocates of the Supreme Court of India has always been a subject of discussion and is negatively held against the Bar, a recent order by the Supreme Court reveals another side of the Bar of the apex court..The Court in its order has lauded Senior Advocate R Basant and his associate A Karthik for the assistance rendered by them in mediating and settling a decade-old case. But what is noteworthy is that the two lawyers declined to accept any remuneration for their assistance, though the parties to the case were willing to pay them for the same..The case was pending before the Court for almost a decade. Several attempts were made by the Court to settle the dispute out of the Court and the Court did succeed, to some extent. However, the parties were not able to reach an agreement on certain issues. It was at this juncture that the Court sought the assistance of Senior Advocate R Basant to assist the parties to arrive at a settlement on the remaining issues..Due to the efforts of the Senior Counsel and his associate along with advocate DN Mitra, the parties were eventually able to settle the dispute. In an order passed on April 20, the Court recorded its appreciation for the three lawyers..“We record our appreciation for the services rendered by Mr. R. Basant, Senior Advocate who was ably assisted by Mr. A. Karthik, Advocate..Mr. R Basant submits that this settlement has been arrived at between the parties by the assistance rendered by Mr. D. N. Mitra, Advocate, and he also needs to be appreciated since he had been working not only as a counsel for one side, but has made sincere efforts for settlement. We thus record our appreciation for the assistance rendered by Mr. D. N. Mitra, Advocate.”.The order then records this interesting bit:.“Despite the persuasive request of the Court, Mr. R. Basant and his associate Mr. A. Karthik have declined to accept any remuneration for the wonderful assistance, though we are convinced that they are entitled to receive the same.”.The parties to the case, who were willing to pay the two lawyers, therefore submitted that they would donate the money to Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital..The Court recorded the same and disposed of the case..Read the order below.