Directs state govt to consider petition.
Madras High Court
CHENNAI: The Madras high court has directed the State government to consider a plea to grant stipend to newly enrolled advocates for one year from the date of their enrolment with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry (BCTP). A Division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana disposed of a petition by senior advocate A.E. Chelliah which sought a direction to the state home secretary and BCTP to give a stipend of Rs 5,000 per month for one year to advocates from the enrolment date.
The bench said, “The home and law departments should bestow their consideration on this request and we hope that they should be able to find some scheme to assist young members of the Bar”. Chelliah submitted that medical students were given stipend but not advocates when they undergo training for a year. In 2007, he and his wife, who was also an advocate, submitted a representation to the government to give new entrants Rs 1,000 as stipend for one year as was being done in neighbouring Karnataka.
The home department gave a reply stating that their representation was forwarded to the chairman of BCTP for action. Since nothing was heard from BCTP, he filed the present petition, he added. The Bench said, “The judiciary does not have funds of its own from which this amount can be given. This is a matter of policy where the State government should consider this aspect. It is always open to the State government to consider the request where it can device a scheme under which younger entrants of the Bar are granted some support for a limited period of time”.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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