1) you are at liberty to change your lawyer

2)in you succeed you can claim litigation costs . you would have to submit the bills raised by lawyer , proof of payments made by you to claim litgation costs . arbitrators generally award actual costs incurred by the parties

3) if arbitrator has given a un fair verdict court would set aside the award .it is not necessary to refer case again to arbitrator

1. Yes, you can change your lawyer at any point of time provided his professional fees is cleared.If your lawyer is not so unscrupulous then he will surely give No Objection to appoint another lawyer in receipt of his due fees, if any.

2,Yes, it can be recovered but the amount is often a token , a far cry from what exactly is expended by the litigants.You would surely get back the due amount with interest but litigation cost even if allowed would be a minuscule.

3. It depends on merit of each case and I can vouch for the fact that is certainly not the rule. if you are unsuccessful you can challenge the same in court u/s 34 of the Act.

Best of luck.

Dear Querist

My opinion on your queries are as under:

Q1. I have signed on Standard “ Vakalat Nama “ with my Lawyer and submitted it to Arbitrator. I am feeling that my Lawyer is cheating me and is incompetent in dealing with my case. Can I change my Lawyer in between the proceedings? Moreover, we have only a verbal agreement of payment of fees.

Opinion: Yes, you can change your lawyer at any stage of the case or proceedings after obtaining a NOC from your lawyer.

Q2. Can the cost of litigation and expenses incurred on hiring a lawyer be recovered from opposite party on winning the case? If yes, is there an upper limit on that? Suppose my lawyer had charged Rs 50,000 for a representing me in arbitrator proceedings /court of law. After winning the case can I get whole amount of Rs 50,000 back or is there some fixed amount or it depends on the discretion of judge which may vary from case to case.

Opinion: If you win the case then the total cost of the litigation can be claim including the Fee of lawyer paid by you, there is no specific rule for fixation of amount.

Q3. I have seen the judgements where decision of arbitrator (solely appointed by the employer as per the service rules ) has giving decisions in favor of the employer(for obvious reasons).It is challenged by the employee in court of law where court citing valid arguments sets aside the judgment of the arbitrator but again refers the case to the Arbitrator. This seems to be the never ending loop. How to get out of it .

Opinion: If there is any arbitrary ordre passed by the arbitrator then the aggrieved party may file an application against that order before District Court Under section 34 of Arbitration & Conciliation Act.

read as under:

34. Application for setting aside arbitral award.

1. Recourse to a Court against an arbitral award may be made only by an application for setting aside such award in accordance with sub-section (2) and subsection (3).

2. An arbitral award may be set aside by the Court only if-

a. the party making the application furnishes proof that-

i. a party was under some incapacity, or

ii. the arbitration agreement is not valid under the law to which the parties have subjected it or, failing any indication thereon, under the law for the time being in force; or

iii. the party making the application was not given proper notice of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the arbitral proceedings or was otherwise unable to present his case; or

iv. the arbitral award deals with a dispute not contemplated by or not falling within the terms of the submission to arbitration, or it contains decisions on matters beyond the scope of the submission to arbitration: Provided that, if the decisions on matters submitted to arbitration can be separated from those not so submitted, only that part of the arbitral award which contains decisions on matters not submitted to arbitration may be set aside; or

v. the composition of the arbitral tribunal or the arbitral procedure was not in accordance with the agreement of the parties, unless such agreement was in conflict with a provision of this Part from which the parties cannot derogate, or, failing such agreement, was not in accordance with this Part; or

b. the Court finds that-

i. the subject-matter of the dispute is not capable of settlement by arbitration under the law for the time being in force, or

ii. the arbitral award is in conflict with the public policy of India. Explanation.-Without prejudice to the generality of sub-clause (ii), it is hereby declared, for the avoidance of any doubt, that an award is in conflict with the public policy of India if the making of the award was induced or affected by fraud or corruption or was in violation of section 75 or section 81.

3. An application for setting aside may not be made after three months have elapsed from the date on which die party making that application had received the arbitral award or, if a request had been made under section 33, from the date on which that request had bow disposed of by the arbitral tribunal: Provided that if the Court is satisfied that the applicant was prevented by sufficient cause from making the application within the said period of three months it may entertain the application within a further period of thirty days, but not thereafter.

4. On receipt of an application under sub-section (1), the Court may, where it is 16 appropriate and it is so requested by a party, adjourn the proceedings for a period of time determined by it in order to give the arbitral tribunal an opportunity to resume the arbitral proceedings or to take such other action as in the opinion of arbitral tribunal will eliminate the grounds for setting aside the arbitral award.

Feel Free to Call

Dear Abhishek. I have been trying to help you in the recent past. As usual an advice/counseling coming without any cost is considered worthless. ???. You did not come back on my suggestions to follow a particular procedure.

You can change your lawyer anytime by communicating the decision to him. He is of course entitled to remuneration for the services rendered.

Cost of proceeding and arbitration fee is awarded to the successful party at the discretion of the Arbitrator.

It is not in every case that the Arbitration is referred back to Arbitrator, Only in cases where there are technical errors, the proceedings are remanded.

1. You can change your lawyer at any point of time of the proceeding. The usually followed procedure is to take a No-Objection note mentioned on the Vakalatnama for the new lawyer. If the earlier lawyer refuses to write No-Objection, you can issue a letter addressed to the arbitrator informing him that you have changed your lawyer since you are not feeling confident on your earlier lawyer. Lawyer's fees are decided verbally only.

2. You can claim the cost but the amount to be awarded as cost will be as per the discretion of the Arbitrator.

3. No, it is not a never ending loop. Once the matter is returned to the Arbitrator he will certainly correct his error f judgment. However, at one point of time the perfect judgment as per the repeated guidance/comments of the High Court will be passed by the Arbitrator.

Q1. I have signed on Standard “ Vakalat Nama “ with my Lawyer and submitted it to Arbitrator. I am feeling that my Lawyer is cheating me and is incompetent in dealing with my case. Can I change my Lawyer in between the proceedings? Moreover, we have only a verbal agreement of payment of fees.

If you dont trust your lawyer anymore, you can very well change the lawyer.

Q2. Can the cost of litigation and expenses incurred on hiring a lawyer be recovered from opposite party on winning the case? If yes, is there an upper limit on that? Suppose my lawyer had charged Rs 50,000 for a representing me in arbitrator proceedings /court of law. After winning the case can I get whole amount of Rs 50,000 back or is there some fixed amount or it depends on the discretion of judge which may vary from case to case.

If you are winning the case, you should see to it that the judgment contains cost to be paid to you by the opposite party. In whatever circumstance, the lawyer fee of entire Rs. 50,000/- cannot be claimed, the advocate act has fixed certain amount towards lawyer's fee, you can claim only that amount.

Q3. I have seen the judgements where decision of arbitrator (solely appointed by the employer as per the service rules ) has giving decisions in favor of the employer(for obvious reasons).It is challenged by the employee in court of law where court citing valid arguments sets aside the judgment of the arbitrator but again refers the case to the Arbitrator. This seems to be the never ending loop. How to get out of it .

This is the practical situation from which you cannot claim any relief.

You may have to go by the procedures or practical things.

1. You are free to change your lawyer at any stage of the case,

2. The cost of litigation i.e fee of lawyer, arbitrator's fee can be recovered from the other party. Costs has to follow the award,

3. The award of the arbitrator can be challenged in the competent civil court which may either set it aside or remand the case back to the arbitrator for fresh adjudication. You just cannot escape this.