Due to the lockdown, S.A. Syed Haroon, a 69-year-old advocate at the Madras High Court, sells tea here to eke out a living.
A native of Thirunagar Colony in Erode, he has been practising in various courts for 41 years and returned to Erode on March 22 just before the commencement of lockdown.
“For the past four months, we have been finding it extremely difficult to meet our needs,” he said. Mr. Haroon claimed that 80% of the advocates were affected due to the lockdown and were yet to recover.
“There is no income and hence I started selling tea from Friday,” he said and added that he was confident of earning at least ₹500 a day. Though courts started functioning through video-conferencing, physical functioning of courts alone could help advocates to get income.
Financial crisis had caused extreme pressure on advocates and they needed immediate support, Mr. Syed said and appealed to the State government to provide financial assistance of ₹10,000 and also a loan amount of ₹1 lakh to each advocate. He wanted full-fledged functioning of the courts in the State with all protective measures in place against the virus.
Mr. Haroon recalled that the Supreme Court had expressed concern over advocates losing their income due to the lockdown. The court had on July 22 asked the Bar Council of India whether advocates could be allowed to take up alternative professions during the lockdown period, he said.
