Baroda Cricket Association In Supreme Court Against Decree To Pay Rs 64 Lakhs To Senior Advocate As Fees

The Baroda Cricket Association has approached the Supreme Court challenging a decree asking it to pay over Rs 64 lakhs to Senior Advocate Srinivasan Ganesh towards professional fee.The Association is challenging the order passed by the Delhi High Court on August 22, 2024.On January 21, a bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan urged the parties to settle the matter. Earlier, in November 2024, the Court had stayed the execution of the money decree to the tune of Rs.64,35,000/-.The dispute is regarding the appearance in a tax case involving the Association in the Supreme Court. The Association claims that except for a preliminary/introductory conference held via Zoom at the instance of KC Mehta & Co, the Chartered Accountants Firm of the Association, there was no engagement of Senior Advocate Ganesh. The Association further claims that the matters were finally concluded without the engagement/appearance of Senior Advocate Ganesh for any hearing. Although there was no engagement of the Senior Advocate, he logged in for the virtual hearing without any instructions, the Association contends.Later, the Association's CA firm received invoices towards the appearance fee of the Senior Advocate. The Association argues that it never instructed the Senior Advocate to appear and contends that the order does not reflect the appearance.In 2022, the senior counsel filed a summary suit before the Saket District Court against the Association for recovery of Rs.64,35,000/-. The Association filed an application seeking leave to defend, which was granted. The senior counsel approached the Delhi High Court challenging the order granting leave to defend.On August 22, 2024, the Delhi High Court set aside the District Court's order granting leave to defend. The High Court also decreed the summary suit, holding that the defence of the Association was frivolous and vexatious.The High Court observed that KC Mehta & Co acted as an authorized agent of the Association and when the former had engaged the senior counsel and approved the fees, the latter could not evade its obligations.The High Court observed :"The essence of the dispute appears to be dissatisfaction of the Defendant with the quantum of charges raised by the Plaintiff vis-à-vis the perceived lack of value of services received from the Plaintiff. The distinct impression, the Court got while hearing the argument was that as per the Defendant, the charges levied were exorbitant. However, in the opinion of this Court, the said objections of the Defendant would not take away from the entitlement of the Plaintiff to recover the amount due since the Defendant's agent ie., K.C. Mehta and Co., who engaged the Plaintiff, approved the fees charges of the Plaintiff and was satisfied with the services rendered by the Plaintiff. The Defendant cannot be permitted to resile from the contractual liability assumed by it while authorizing K.C. Mehta and Co. to engage the services of the Plaintiff."Case : Baroda Cricket Association v. Srinivasan Ganesh | SLP (c) No.23304/2024Click Here To Read/Download Order

Baroda Cricket Association In Supreme Court Against Decree To Pay Rs 64 Lakhs To Senior Advocate As Fees

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