[CM Advocate Welfare Policy] Delhi HC Directs NIACL To Issue E-Cards To 29077 Advocates Who Are Beneficiaries Of Mediclaim Policies

The Delhi High Court on Friday directed the New India Assurance Company Limited (NIACL) to issue E-cards to all 29077 lawyers who are beneficiaries of the medi-claim policies enabling them to avail benefits from the date of inception of the policy.

A single judge bench comprising of Justice Pratibha M. Singh directed that such E-cards shall be issued without awaiting the completion of the verification process.

The Court also directed the NIACL to post a representative to be stationed at the Bar Council of Delhi's Office to facilitate the verification of data of advocates making any claims under the said policy.

The following directions were issued by the High Court:

1. The complete list of 29077 lawyers, who are beneficiaries of the Mediclaim policies, shall be exchanged between NIACL, GNCTD and BCD within 3 days.

2. NIACL shall issue E-cards to all 29077 lawyers. Mr. Sharma submits that out of the total number of lawyers, 22467 lawyers have been verified by GNCTD and BCD. However, 6610 are yet to be verified and some lawyers are still in the process of verification of data. Let the verification process be continued. The 6610 lawyers, whose verification is yet to be completed, shall be a part of the total number of 29077 advocates who shall be issued E-cards, so that they can avail of the Mediclaim policies from the date of inception. Ecards shall be issued without awaiting the completion of the verification process.

3. NIACL shall post a representative of its TPA agency, who shall be stationed at the BCD office. Whenever any claims are made, an attempt shall be made immediately to verify the data, and submit the same to NIACL to enable the said Advocate's claim to be cleared. The said representative from the TPA Agency shall facilitate the verification of the data of the Advocate expeditiously. In case of advocates whose names are yet to be verified, cashless facility shall be availed of however, the verification of the data by the Advocate shall be done within 48 hours.

The Court had on earlier occasion granted two weeks time to the GNCTD and Delhi Bar Council starting from 28th December 2020 to prepare a circular informing all advocates of the benefits of National India Assurance Company Ltd. (NIACL) policy and ensure that the advocates fill up their data in time.

According to a status report filed by the GNCTD dated 15.01.2021, it was informed that out of a total of 29,098 advocates the data in respect of 11,168 advocates has been updated.

The Court observed that since the GNCTD and BCD are making the insurance policy possible for lawyers, they shall adopt a coordinated and collaborative approach to ensure that all lawyers update their data on or before 30th January, 2021.

The matter will now be listed on 4th March 2021.

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