The Madurai Bar Association has written to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin urging the government to provide a compensation amount of ₹25 lakh to the families of advocates who died due to COVID-19.
In a press statement issued by president A. Nedunchezian and secretary S. Mohan Kumar, the association said that the government had recently announced a compensation of ₹25 lakh to the family of a Chief Judicial Magistrate who died due to COVID-19. The members of the association said that the Bar and the Bench were two sides of the same coin. They pointed out that many advocates had died due to COVID-19. Their families were facing hardships, especially those in the rural areas.
The government should come forward to extend help to the families of advocates, they said. There has to be a balance, the bar association members said and hoped that the government would look into the plight of the advocates.
“Madurai Bar Association has lost 23 members and as per reports at least 230 advocates have died across the State due to COVID-19. Their families are facing hardship. We hope their plight would be looked into by the government”, said S. Mohan Kumar.
The All India Lawyers Union in its letter to the Chief Minister said that many advocates were affected by COVID-19 and their families were suffering financially. The government must provide financial assistance of ₹25,000 to the advocates, the members said.
The general secretary of the Lawyers Union, N. Muthu Amuthanathan, said that adequate compensation must be provided to the families of the advocates who died due to COVID-19. The benefit under the Tamil Nadu Advocates Welfare Fund must be enhanced from ₹7 lakh to ₹15 lakh, he said. He also urged the government to bear the COVID-19 treatment cost of the advocates.
