Chennai, May 8 (PTI): The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has decided to disburse Rs 4,000 each to 12,000 needy advocates across the state as COVID-19 relief fund.

According to a press release from the council, 12,000 lawyers who have been found eligible from among 17,059 who applied for such relief will be issued a cheque through the respective Bar associations.

Those who were not members in any Bar association could collect the cheque directly from their nearest Bar association, it added.

Soon after the nationwide lockdown was announced, the Bar council decided to provide financial assistance to advocates, particularly young, to meet their daily basic expenses.

Immediately, the council started to pool in funds from various sources including contributions from judges and lawyers.

"The council have received contributions to the tune of Rs 1 crore as donations from judges and lawyers and others, Rs 3 crore from the general fund of the council and Rs 1 crore from the BCI advocates welfare fund totalling Rs five crore," the council's chairperson PS Amalraj said.

Besides this, the council has requested all the Bar associations in the state to contribute not less than 25 per cent of the funds available with them to the council to meet out this extraordinary situation.PTI COR SS

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)