The Supreme Court has introduced a self-supporting scheme for providing legal services to the middle and relatively lower income groups, according to the Union Law Ministry.
The “Middle Income Group Scheme” is meant to provide legal services to litigants in the Supreme Court whose gross income does not exceed ₹60,000 per month or ₹7.5 lakh per annum.
They can avail themselves of the services for a nominal amount.
The members of the governing body, to whom the management of the Society is entrusted as required under Section 2 of the Societies Registration Act, include the Chief Justice of India as patron-in-chief, the Attorney General as ex-officio vice-president, the Solicitor General as honorary secretary and other senior advocates as its members.
As per the Supreme Court guidelines, cases can be filed before it only through Advocates On Record.
“A sum of ₹500 shall be payable to the Supreme Court Middle Income Group (MIG) Legal Aid Society as service charges. The applicant shall have to deposit the fee indicated by the secretary, which will be in accordance with the schedule attached to the scheme. It is the secretary who will register the case under the MIG Legal Aid Scheme and forward the papers to the Advocate On Record, Arguing Counsel or Senior Counsel on the panel for opinion,” said a statement by the Law Ministry. The view expressed by the Advocate On Record will be final insofar as the eligibility of the applicant for obtaining the benefit of the scheme is concerned,” said the Law Ministry.
Contingent fund
As per the scheme, a contingent fund will be created to meet the miscellaneous expenditure in connection with the case by collecting a deposit of ₹750 from the applicant at the stage of admission, in addition to the charges required to be deposited with the Society, out of the contingent fund.
If the case is not found fit for an appeal to the Supreme Court, the entire amount — after deducting the minimum service charges of ₹750 — will be refunded to the applicant through cheque. If the advocate, who is appointed under the Scheme, is found negligent in the conduct of the case entrusted to him, then he will be required to return the brief together with the fee which he may have received from the applicant.
Further, the Society will not be responsible for the negligent conduct of the case but the entire responsibility will be that of the advocate vis-a-vis the client and the advocate’s name will be struck off from the panel.
