Retirement benefits soon?

Calcutta, Dec. 21: The Bengal bar council is pressuring the government to implement a law passed 15 years ago to grant lawyers provident fund and gratuity.

But the question of who will sell “stamps” to raise funds for the programme has made the implementation of the law doubtful, though the government has released its Rs 60 lakh to create the initial corpus.

According to the West Bengal Advocates’ Welfare Fund (Amendment) Act, 1992, litigants have to buy a Rs 10 stamp while filing a case in the high court (Rs 5 for lower courts).

“We have requested the government to sell the stamps through its vendors (that sell stamp papers, for example),” bar council chairman Arun Kumar Sarkar said.

But the government does not want to sell stamps “for lawyers’ welfare” to avoid the misconception among litigants that they were paying extra for the exchequer, a law department official said.

The court fees — from Rs 20 to 100 — litigants pay now go to the government.

A bar council delegation met law minister Rabilal Moitra last week to enquire about the government’s stand. Moitra said: “We have no objection to raising funds by selling stamps. But the bar council has to take the initiative of printing and selling them.”

Saradindu Biswas, an executive committee member of the council that represents the state advocates’ welfare funds committee, said: “It is very difficult for us to sell stamps. We don’t have the infrastructure.”

A token contribution — between Rs 50 and 150 a year depending on the number of years in practice — and 30 years of uninterrupted work will make a lawyer eligible for the provident fund and gratuity. Sarkar said: “The state has released Rs 60 lakh for the funds. The council has contributed Rs 11 lakh.”

Sarkar, who felt “the government is now keen to implement it”, said “most other states have already done that.

There are over 200 courts in the state and around 3,600 cases are filed everyday. Stamps for lawyers’ welfare with every new case are likely to generate over Rs 40 lakh a year.

Asked why the bar council took so long to push for the implementation of the law, an executive member accused the government of being deaf to its pleas.