[39
OF 2024] [17th
December 2024] An Act further to amend the
Tamil Nadu Advocates Welfare Fund Act, 1987. BE it enacted by the
Legislative Assembly of the State of Tamil Nadu in the Seventy-fifth Year of
the Republic of India as follows: (1)
This Act may be called the Tamil Nadu
Advocates Welfare Fund (Amendment) Act, 2024. (2)
(a) Clause (a) of section 4 shall be deemed
to have come into force on the 30th day of January 2018. (b) Clause (b) of section 4
shall be deemed to have come into force on the 27th day of August 2022. (c) Clause (c) of section 4
and the remaining sections shall come into force on such date as the State
Government may, by notification, appoint. In section 2 of the Tamil
Nadu Advocates Welfare Fund Act, 1987 (hereinafter referred to as the principal
Act), in clause (k), the expression "and includes e-stamp" shall be
added at the end. In section 15 of the
principal Act,- (a)
in sub-section (1 ), the following proviso
shall be added, namely:- "Provided that on and
from the date of commencement of the Tamil Nadu Advocates Welfare Fund
(Amendment) Act, 2024, an advocate who is in receipt of pension, gratuity or
other terminal benefits from any State Government or Central Government or
other authority or employer shall not be eligible to apply for admission as a
member of the Fund."; (b)
in sub- section (3), the following proviso
shall be added, namely:- "Provided that a person
enrolled as an advocate and opted to be admitted to the Fund belatedly after
enrolment shall pay an additional fee of rupees one thousand per year from the
date of his enrolment till the date of his admission to the fund."; (c)
in sub-section (4), (i)
in item (a), for the expression "Five
hundred rupeesI the expression "One thousand rupees" shall be
substituted; (ii)
in item (b), for the expression "One
thousand Rupees", the expeession "Two thousand rupees" shall be
substituted; (iii)
in item (c), for the expression
"Twenty-five thousand rupees", the expression "One lakh
rupees" shall be substituted; (iv)
in item (d), for the expression "Ten
thousand rupees", the expression "Twenty thousand rupees" shall
be substituted; (v)
the following provisos shall be added,
namely:- "Provided that an
advocate who has been admitted as a member of the Fund before the completion of
thirty five years of age shall be eligible to pay life time subscription or
annual subscription to the Fund: Provided further that an
advocate who has been admitted as a member of the Fund after the completion of
thirty five years of age shall be eligible to pay only annual subscription and
he shall not be eligible to pay life time subscription to the Fund."; (d)
in sub-section (6), for the expression
"fifty rupees", the expression "ten thousand rupees" shall
be substituted; (e)
in sub-section (9), for the expression
"fifty rupees", the expression "five hundred rupees" shall
be substituted. In section 16 of the
principal Act,- (a)
in sub-section (5), for the expression
"five lakh and twenty-five thousand rupees" occurring in two places, the
expression "seven lakh rupees" shall be substituted; (b)
in sub-section (5) as so amended, for the
expression "seven lakh rupees" occurring in two places, the
expression "ten lakh rupees" shall be substituted; (c)
for sub-section (5) as so amended, the
following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:- "(5)
Where a member of the Fund dies, his
nominee or legal heir, as the case may be, shall be paid an amount of- (a)
rupees ten lakh, if the member was enrolled
as an advocate before the completion of thirty five years of age; (b)
rupees five lakh, if the member was enrolled
as an advocate after the completion of thirty five years or age but before the
completion of fifty years of age; (c)
rupees two lakh and fifty thousand, if the
member was enrolled as an advocate after the completion of fifty years of age,
but-before completion of sixty years of age; (d)
rupees one lakh, if the member was enrolled
as an advocate after the completion of sixty years of age: Provided that if such member
who, before his death, was in receipt of pension, gratuity or other terminal
benefits from any State Government or the Central Government or other authority
or employer, his nominee or legal heir, as the case may be, shall not be
entitled for the payment of the amount under this sub-section.". In section 21 of the
principal Act, in Sub-section (2), in clause (b), for the expression
"twenty-five rupees", the expression "five hundred rupees"
shall be substituted. In section 22 of the
principal Act, in sub-section (1),- (a)
for the expression "ten rupees",
the expression "one hundred and twenty rupees" shall be substituted; (b)
the following proviso shall be added,
namely:- "Provided that the Bar
Council may also issue e-stamp through e-stamps online portal of the Bar
Council.". In section 23 of the
principal Act, in sub-section (1), for the expression "thirty
rupees", the expression "one hundred and twenty rupees" shall be
substituted.The
Tamil Nadu Advocates Welfare Fund (Amendment) Act, 2024
PREAMBLE