A group of five Advocates has moved a petition before the Delhi High Court to extend the benefit of the Chief Minister Advocates’ Welfare Scheme to all the Advocates enrolled with Bar Council of Delhi, irrespective of the fact that their names are registered in Delhi's voter list.
The Advocates include Advocate Balvinder Singh Bagga, Advocate Manish Saroha, Advocate Vivek Jain, Shivam Chanana and Advocate Vaibhav Kalra.
The Petitioners are registered with the Bar Council of Delhi but reside in areas neighbouring the national capital.
The matter was mentioned before the Registrar via telephone by Learned Counsel of the petitoners Advocate Naginder Benipal.
The Petition informs that despite of the 13- Advocates Committee's recommendation on the utilization of the Welfare Fund which stated that the beneficiaries under the Scheme would include members of Bar Council of Delhi and those who are on the electoral roll of any of the Bar Associations in Delhi as on December 1, 2019, the Delhi Government has restrcited it to only those members of Bar Council of Delhi who are in the Voters’ List of Delhi.
The petition mentions:
"..the present petition is, in essence, a prayer for intervention to this Hon’ble Court so that equal treatment is meted out to Advocates who’s name do not figure in the Voter list of Delhi and their brethren who’s name appears in the Voter List of Delhi, as both are registered with the Bar Council of Delhi and have put in the same efforts for a number of years in upholding the dignity of the profession."
It was further stated in the petition that the restriction of the benefit of the Scheme to only those members of the Bar Council of Delhi who are in the Voters’ List of Delhi is unreasonable, arbitrary, unfair, unjust, illegal and unconstitutional.
The petition stressed that the restrcitions are politically motivated.
It was alleged:
The purpose of the scheme was to cover under its ambit all the practicing advocates in Delhi on verified rolls of the Bar Council of Delhi irrespective of their place of residence/place of voting or any other criteria. That by restricting the applicability of Scheme to the members of Bar council of Delhi having Delhi Voter Id is strictly violative of the principles of Article 14 of the Constitution of India and also against the entire purpose of the Scheme.
The petiioners thus sought a direction to the Delhi Government to extend the benefits of the Scheme to all Delhi lawyers, irrespective of their permanent place of residence.
Note: Online application forms with OTP facility are presently available on the website of State Law Department for advocates who intend to avail the benefits of the Chief Minister’s Advocates Welfare Scheme.
The Counsel was informed by the registry that the matter shall be taken up once the High Court returns to it normal schedule. The measures to prevent the COVID-19, has put the Court's functioning at halt.
