Delhi High Court stays proposed service tax on lawyers

The Delhi High Court and Guwahati High Court has stayed the Central Government’s decision to impose a service tax upon lawyers from 1 May. The Delhi High Court Bar Association brought the matter before Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna, arguing: “We are not tour operators or taxi drivers servicing our clients, we are officers of the court and our duty to represent a litigant is an integral and inseparable part of the justice delivery system, whereby the lawyers assist courts to render justice”. It was claimed that the burden of paying the 10 per cent service tax will not fall on the lawyers but indirectly on the litigant.decreasing access to justice. The Court has asked the Central Government to file its response within two weeks.

Delhi High Court stays proposed service tax on lawyers barandbench.com Fri, May 6, 2011