Advocates’ Clerks integral part of Justice Delivery System, Uttarakhand HC [Read Judgment]

The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the State government to put in place a legislation for the benefit of advocates’ clerks in the state.

The order was passed earlier this month by a Bench of Justices Lok Pal Singh and Rajiv Sharma, which directed the state to frame such a law in pursuance of Supreme Court directions made way back in 2003.

The petitioners had approached the High Court seeking directions to the State government for improving their conditions of service including security of tenure and timely monetary help in the case of death or bodily injuries to them.

Similar reliefs were asked for in Akhil Bhartiya Adhivakta Clerks Association & others v. Union of India, a petition filed in 2003, in which the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to look into the matter. Nearly twelve years later, the Union Law Ministry sent a letter to the Chief Secretary of the government of Uttarakhand calling for the framing of a legislation to govern benefits due to them.

Then, on June 26, 2015, the State government sought the views of the advocates’ clerks, which were submitted a month later. However, this did not bring the State government any closer to making a legislation on the issue.

Before the High Court, the petitioners had pointed to the fact that States like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Karnataka had enacted Advocates’ Clerks Welfare Funds Acts. A similar legislation on the line of the Acts was called to be implemented in Uttarakhand.

Adding to the same, the Bench observed,

“We are also of the considered view that the State Government should also make a Contingency Fund to provide ex gratia payment to the family members of the advocates’ clerks in the case of untimely death or fatal bodily injury.”

Highlighting their importance in the legal system, the Bench stated,

“The advocates’ clerks are an integral part of the justice delivery system. Most of the advocates’ clerks are registered. It is the need of the hour that effective steps should be taken by the State Government to ameliorate their grievances.”

Therefore, it directed the State government to frame the legislation for the benefit of advocates’ clerks working in all the courts of the state, including the Tribunals, within three months.

Read the order: