Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced the formation of a 13-member committee tasked with submitting recommendations for the utilisation of the ₹50-crore Chief Minister’s Advocates’ Welfare Scheme. The committee, headed by Rakesh Kumar Khanna, senior advocate and president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, will submit the recommendations within 10 days, he said.
“This is good news for the community of advocates in Delhi. The committee will submit its report within 10 days. We had allocated ₹50 crore under the scheme for the welfare of advocates in the current budget, as requested by various advocates’ organisations,” said Mr. Kejriwal.
Poll promise
The Chief Minister said that the Delhi government recognises the invaluable contributions of advocates to society and that an exclusive scheme for their welfare was a long-standing demand of various lawyers’ organisations. “Advocates’ bodies had approached us before the last elections. It was one of the poll promises we had made. It has been materialised now,” he said.
The scheme, Mr. Kejriwal claimed, is unique as no such scheme for the welfare of advocates has been initiated so far in the country. “The Delhi government has made another model initiative in this regard,” he said.
The Khanna-led panel would identify specific areas of welfare for the amount to be spent.
According to the order issued on Friday, Bar Council of Delhi chairman K.C. Mittal and Delhi High Court Bar Association president Mohit Mathur are among other members of the committee.
