Madras High Court Asks State To Release ₹7 Crore Towards TN Advocates Welfare Fund, Asks For Money To Be Disbursed To Families Of Deceased Lawyers

Justice SM Subramaniam and Justice C Kumarappan were hearing a plea to implement and enforce The Advocates' Welfare Fund Act 2001 to Puducherry Union Territory. In previous orders, the court had directed all Advocates/Senior Advocates in the state to give a stipend of Rs. 15k- Rs 20k to young lawyers in the state.

The Advocate General informed the court that the Government has already issued a Government Order enhancing the scheme amount from Rs. 7 lakh to Rs 10 Lakh. He also informed the court that approximately 441 applications are pending of which many are old applications.

The court noted that since the Government has already issued the GO concurrent with the Finance Department, it was bound to release the additional sanction for the enhanced welfare amount. However, the state had not disbursed the additional sanction.

Noting that long pending dues should be cleared without any lapse, the court remarked that the Government was already settling the welfare benefits to its employees and was bound to settle the welfare fund benefits to the Advocates also within a reasonable time.

The court thus directed the state to release the funds and asked the AG to disburse the funds within one week and report compliance.

Case Title: Farida Begam v The Puducherry Government and Others

Case No: WP 17976 of 2019