"We have decided to suspend our agitation following the High Court putting on hold operationalisation of the Bihar government's order of steep and irrational hike that would have made seeking justice too costly for the common man," Yogesh Chandra Verma, convenor of the coordination committee of the three associations of the lawyers of the High Court spearheading the stir, told PTI.

Earlier in the day, a special three-judge special bench comprising Justices Barin Ghosh and J N Singh besides Prasad stayed the state government order while hearing a PIL filed by a Muzaffarpur lawyer Sudhir Kumar Ojha, who had challenged the step, saying though the per capita income in Bihar was lower than most states, the court fees as the result of the hike was more than most developed states. The petitioner had said the poor in Bihar would not be able to get justice for want of money.

"The court fees with regard to all cases in the High Court, subordinate courts and tribunals would exist as prior to the government order until the court disposes of the PIL," the bench ruled.

The court fixed May 16 for next hearing of the case after Advocate General P K Sahi told the court that a special ministerial committee headed by deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi was looking into the matter and that it would hold its next meeting with the agitating lawyers on April 10.