The Advocates’ Association Bengaluru on Friday told the Karnatraka High Court that ₹13.44 lakh has been collected by way of donations from advocates towards relief for clerks facing hardship because of loss of income following closure of courts during COVID-19 lockdown.
The AAB, in coordination with the Karnataka State Bar Council, collected the amount after the High Court suggested raising donation since no monetary benefit could be extended to the registered clerks under the Registered Clerks Fund of the Karnataka Advocates’ Welfare Fund Act, 1983 as relief could be given only when a registered clerk ceases to work or in case of death.
A counsel appearing for the AAB told a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy during the hearing of the PIL petition, filed Karnataka State Level Advocates’ Clerks Association, that a committee, headed by a senior counsel, has now invited applications from the needy registered clerks for disbursement of the collected amount. There are around 575 registered clerks in Bengaluru.
