The Jharkhand High Court in the case Bidesh Kumar Dan vs. Union of India And Ors observed and has issued the notice in a Public Interest Litigation, wherein seeking directions for life and medical insurance coverage to advocates practicing in Jharkhand.
In the present case, the plea is moved by one Bidesh Kumar Dan, who is an advocate practicing in Civil Court, Dhanbad, wherein seeking the direction for the expansion of the coverage of Ayushman Bharat Health Insurance Scheme which include the Advocates and also their dependent family members.
The Division bench comprising of Chief Justice SK Mishra and Justice Ananda Sen in its order passed on May 01 stated that let the counter affidavit be filed withing a period of four weeks by the Union of India, State of Jharkhand, the Bar Council of India and the Jharkhand State Bar Council.
The petitioner in the plea argued that due to the onslaught of COVID-19 pandemic and because of its subsequent impact on the functioning of the courts, it has severely impacted the livelihood of lawyers.
Further, it has also been argued that the advocates are the worst hot because accordingly to the rules applicable, they cannot do any other job.
It has also been stated by the petitioner in the plea that as per section 6 and section 7 of the Advocates Act, 1961 casts a duty upon Respondent No.-4 i.e., the Bar Council India and the Respondent No.-5, Jharkhand State Bar Council in order to provide financial assistance to organize welfare schemes for the indigent, disabled or other advocates, but due to the fact that number of needy advocates is very large, the JSBC and the Bar Council of India could not help them monetarily and they need government aid and the support to do so.
Therefore, the said petitioner relied on the order of Delhi Government wherein providing insurance Cover to Advocates during the COVID-19 pandemic after the intervention of the Delhi High Court. Further, the petition filed stated that the Government of India had set up a five-member committee which is headed by the Secretary, Legal Affairs in 2019 in order to examine the issues which relates to framing of a proper, the structured scheme for providing insurance cover to the advocates and to suggest modalities for the implementation of such scheme, however, nothing had been finalized as of now by the said committee yet. Adding to it, the petition filed stated that it being the duty of the Respondents as stated under Article 21 of the Constitution in order to protect the life of all its Advocates or citizens by taking all the rightful steps during this deadly second wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The counsel, Advocate Md Shadab Ansari appeared for the petitioner.
