An advocate on Monday moved the Supreme Court against the immediate suspension of 5,970 advocates by the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry for non-payment of advocate welfare fund.
Advocate Sabarish Subramanian filed the writ petition against the Bar Council of India (BCI) and the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Bar Council. Mr. Subramanian has urged the apex court to quash a notice issued by the BCI on March 22 to suspend the advocates, whose legal practise is spread over various courts, tribunals and other authorities in the State.
As per Section 7 (2) of Advocates Act, the BCI is empowered to constitute one or more funds to provide financial assistance and to organise welfare scheme for advocates.
As per Section 7(1) (d) it is the duty of the Bar Council of India to safeguard the rights, privileges and interests of advocates. As per Section 7(1) (g), the Bar Council of India has to exercise general supervision and control over State Bar Councils.
“The State Bar Council herein (TN Bar Council) has not maintained its record by updating the addresses and phone numbers of advocates who enrolled under the Bar Council. Hence, most of the advocates have not received any warning notice for default in payment of advocate welfare fund. This has led to the suspension of 5970 advocates,” the writ petition submitted.
It said the receipt of the suspension notice on March 22 was quite a shock to a large number of the legal fraternity.
