Rs 10.20 Lakhs Disbursed As Aid To Clerks : Advocates Association Of Bengaluru Tells Karnataka HC

The Advocates Association of Bengaluru on Wednesday informed the Karnataka High Court that an amount of Rs 10,20,000 has been disbursed after scrutiny of 204 applications it received from members of the Karnataka State Level Advocates Clerks Association seeking financial aid due to closure of courts during the lockdown.

Adv Anil Kumar, appearing for the association, said that the committee headed by Senior Advocate DLN Rao on June 29, disbursed an amount of Rs 5,000 to each of the applicants and the amount will be credited to their accounts in a few days.

He added that the Committee had collected by way of donations an amount of Rs 13,44,000 and more applications are being received from needy clerks by the committee.

A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy said "Needless to add that it is a continuous process, more applications if received from clerks, can be considered by the committee."

The court also allowed the application filed by Advocates Clerks Association, High court of Karnataka, Dharwad Bench to intervene in the petition.

Advocate Murthy D Naik, counsel for the petitioner, was also allowed to implead the High Court Bar Associations at Dharwad and Kalaburagi, as party respondents in the petition.

The bench said "So that here the process has started, let the process start in other places also." The court has directed the Presidents of the two Bar Associations to appear before the court through video conferencing on July 13, the next date of hearing.

The association by way of interim relief sought direction to the state government to release a sum of Rs 10,000, for each member during the period of closure of court till commencement of normal functioning of courts.