"Many lawyers lost their lives due to lack of mediclaim policy:" Madras High Court forms committee to examine insurance coverage for advocates

In an order passed last month, the Madras High Court ordered the constitution of a committee to look into how medical insurance coverage can be provided for advocates (Sudha Ramalingam v The Bar Council and ors). .Justices N Kirubakaran and R Pongiappan passed the order on a plea moved by Senior Advocate Sudha Ramalingam seeking formulation of a Group Health Insurance (Medi Claim Policy) for advocates enrolled with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry as well as their dependent family members..The Bench noted that many advocates had been left in the lurch between the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of insurance coverage.."Taking into consideration, around 65,000 advocates are on the rolls of Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, as on date, who have got Certificate of Place of Practice, their interests should be taken care of as they do not have any Health Insurance Policy. On account of Covid Pandemic, many advocates lost their lives due to lack of Mediclaim Policy. Though there are many Insurance Companies, only a few Insurance Companies are coming forward to offer insurance coverage. Moreover, money involved is not huge and without the participation of the State Government, it is impossible to make a coverage," the order stated. .The Court went on to opine that it needs more details on how to go about the matter. Therefore, it directed the constitution of a committee to give recommendations that would enable the Court to pass appropriate orders with respect to medical insurance coverage for advocates. The Committee comprises of the following persons:Advocate General Vijay Narayan (Chairperson), who the Court noted would also be in a better position to interact with the Government in case of any viable proposal given by the CommitteeSenior Advocate Sudha Ramalingam Advocate N Vijayaraghavan Advocate S ArunkumarAdditional Solicitor General R SankaranarayananAdvocate MR SivasubramaniamP Manoharan (Former Senior Divisional Manager, National Insurance company Limited)Advocate CK Chandrasekaran (Standing counsel for Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry)Advocate Devika .Additional Advocate General PH Arvindh Pandian was directed to be the coordinator of the Committee. The Member Secretary of the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry was directed to be its convenor. .[Read Order]