The Bar Council of Delhi submitted a status report informing the Delhi High Court that financial assistance of Rs 5000 each have been granted to around 16,448 advocates totaling to Rs 8.22 crores, in order to cope up with the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
The bench comprising of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan heard a PIL that sought directions to the Advocate Welfare Fund Trust to provide ex gratia payments to advocates suffering from the financial crisis in the wake of COVID19. It was submitted by the BCD that the money has been disbursed to the needy advocates in their bank accounts or through fixed deposits.
“There are still more than 62,000 advocates who are being deprived of the benefit of Insurance policies for which the Council has decided to avail appropriate remedy” read the status report submitted by the Chairman of Bar Council of Delhi – KC Mittal. “It may be appropriate to collect donations from various advocates who can afford. In order to avoid overlapping and misuse of money, the same may be uniformly applied to extend financial and medical support in genuine and appropriate cases,” added the council.
(This news has been written and submitted by Mr. Yogesh Sharma during his course of internship at B&B Associates LLP. Mr. Yogesh is a third-year law student at Chandigarh University, Gharuan, Mohali.)
