Delhi HC verdict finds place in elite Yale Law School journal

A landmark judgement of the Delhi High Court, which had struck down an 1870 law on court fees, has found place, along with four others from around the world, in a prestigious international journal published by the Yale Law School of the United States.
The judgement penned in 2013 by Justice Gita Mittal had struck down The Court Fees (Delhi Amendment) Act 2012 after declaring it "invalid and ultra vires the Constitution".
The judge, who was heading the bench along with Justice J R Midha, had held that Delhi Legislative Assembly did not have the legislative competence to amend the Court Fees Act, 1870 and directed government to refund the higher amount collected from litigants as the amendment came in 2012.

In its publication 'Global Constitutionalism 2015', which is part of the Gruber Program for global justice and human rights, the law school has incorporated the landmark judgement along with two from the European Court of Human Rights, one each from the Supreme Courts of the United States and Canada, a release said here.
The chapter 'Subsidizing Courts: Waiving Fees and Funding Lawyers' has made a significant reference to the judgment of the Delhi High Court by Justice Mittal in the case titled 'Delhi High Court Bar Association vs. Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi'.
Elated over the development, Profr Upendra Baxi, a former Vice Chancellor of Delhi University and Emeritus Professor of the University of Warwick, said "this is a significant recognition of the contribution of the Indian judiciary to the global discourse on access to justice".

"Justice Gita Mittal is an outstanding jurist and has contributed immensely towards the recognition of law as an instrument of social change," he said.
Professor C Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor of O P Jindal Global University, said in the Yale publication, a few selected judgments from global constitutional courts have been brought together for legal and jurisprudential advancements that they have made in relation to access to justice.
"It is indeed a rare recognition that the judgment of Justice Gita Mittal of the Delhi High Court has been included in this volume," he said.