He represented himself

His time isn't free, so a person could reasonably make the argument still. Granted, I'm not sure how that would look exactly.

Idk about India, but in other common law countries, courts often don’t even award basic costs to self-represented applicants, as a matter of policy. I never really understood the rationale.

he is a lawyer, he spent time on this case, theoretically at the expense of other work, why shouldn't he be paid his normal hourly rate?