Do away with filing fees for clients, says LAC

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KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council’s Legal Aid Centre (LAC) wants the Government to do away with filing fees for its clients.

Its Kuala Lumpur Legal Aid Centre chairman Ravinder Singh Dhalliwal said the LAC wanted a scheme similar to the Government’s Legal Aid Bureau (LAB) which did not have to pay court fees for its clients.

For instance, he said, LAC clients who were undergoing a divorce would need to spend about RM900 in filing fees throughout the handling of the divorce petition.

“The Rule Committee can enable this by amending the High Court and Subordinate Court Rules,” he said after the opening of the council’s new KL LAC premises at Wisma Kraftangan here yesterday.

Council vice-chairman Lim Chee Wee said the LAC provides equal access to justice regardless of class, status and wealth and ensures that Article 8 of the Federal Constitution that all are equal before the law “is not a mere aspiration but a reality.”

In his opening speech, Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria said the judiciary would pursue the LAC’s request.

“We will fully support this request but the final decision still lies with the Government,” he said.

Ravinder also called for an ‘assigned counsel’ scheme so the LAC could undertake criminal cases in the lower courts.

“With the current thrust by the judiciary to ensure that cases are not postponed, defendants who are not able to have legal representation are also affected,” he said.