Lawyers Are Performing Public Service, Can't Deny Them Funds: Madras High Court Asks State To Release Funds For Advocates Welfare Fund

“Lawyers are also performing public service. We can't deny them funds. They're given only 10 Lakh while Group-B public servants are given 60-70 lakh and sometimes even 1 crore. These payments should be made in a stipulated period. It's not a big amount. We want to ensure that at least 50% of the pending applications are disbursed,” the court remarked.

The bench of Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice C Kumarappan was hearing the petition for implementation and enforcement of the Advocates' Welfare Fund Act 2001 to the Puducherry Union. The court was previously informed that around 200 applications were pending for benefits under the Tamil Nadu Advocates' Welfare Fund.

The court thus impleaded the Principal Secretary to the Government, Finance Department, and Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu, Law Department to explain why funds were not being released for applications pending for a long time.

On Thursday, Advocate General PS Raman informed the court that the state was yet to release an amount of Rs. 10 lakh for the Advocates' Welfare Fund for the year 2022-2023. The Advocate General also informed the court that he had asked the law secretary when the funds were expected to be released and asked if it was possible to release an amount of Rs 5 lakh immediately so that little by little the funds could be disbursed.

When asked when the applications were pending, the AG informed that the applications had been pending since 2022, since Corona. He however informed that the situation in Puducherry was different where the applications were pending due to some internal conflicts between some association members.

Calling it an unfortunate situation, the court noted that quite often, the family members were being put in trouble for no fault of theirs.

The court also pointed out that the Government was in the habit of disbursing funds immediately for other departments which even went to 60-70 lakhs or even one crore. The court added that lawyers were also performing a public service and the government could not deny them funds. The court added that while the other departments were allocated funds to the tune of 60-70 lakh, lawyers were allocated only 10 Lakh, even which the government often failed to dispose in time.

The AG assured the court that he would communicate with the concerned department and make sure that the funds are disbursed. Taking note of this submission, the court adjourned the case by a week.

Case Title: Farida Begam v The Puducherry Government and Others

Case No: WP 17976 of 2019