UTTAR PRADESH ADVOCATES WELFARE FUND (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1988

UTTAR PRADESH ADVOCATES WELFARE FUND (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1988

Preamble - UTTAR PRADESH ADVOCATES WELFARE FUND (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1988

THE UTTAR PRADESH ADVOCATES WELFARE FUND (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1988

[Act No. 21 of 1988]

[15th October, 1988]

PREAMBLE

An Ac to amend the Uttar Pradesh Advocates Welfare Fund Act, 1974

It is hereby enacted in the Thirty-ninth Year of the Republic of India as follows:--

Section 1 - Short title and commencement

(1)     This Act may be called the Uttar Pradesh Advocates Welfare Fund (Amendment) Act, 1988.

(2)     It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification, appoint in this behalf.

Section 2 - Amendment of section 2 of UP Act no 6 of 1974

In section 2 of the. Uttar Pradesh Advocates Welfare Fund Act, 1974, hereinafter referred to as the principal Act, after clause (d), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:--

"(e) ?'Welfare Stamp' means the stamp referred to in section 9;

(f)?? ?'Vakalatnama' includes a memorandum of appearance or any other document by which an advocate is empowered to appear, act or plead before any court, tribunal, authority or person but does not include any Vakalatnama or memorandum of appearance filed on behalf of the State Government or an officer representing the State Government."

Section 3 - Amendment of section 3

In section 3 of the principal Act--

(a)      in sub-section (1), after clause (b), the following clause shall be inserted, namely--

"(bb) the organisation of Advocate Social Security Fund Scheme herein after referred to as the Scheme, for such advocates as become members of the Scheme;"

(b)      in sub-section (2), after clause (g), the following clauses shall be inserted namely:--

"(h) ?the sale proceeds of stamps transferred by the State Government in accordance with section 10;

(i)?? ?all admission fees and annual subscriptions, for membership of the Scheme received in accordance with section 11 and interest, if any, thereon."

Section 4 - Substitution of section 8

For section 8 of the principal Act, the following sections shall be substituted; namely:--

"8. Contribution by State Bar Council

The State Bar Council shall contribute to the Fund rupees one lakh on the date of commencement of the Uttar Pradesh Advocates Welfare Fund (Amendment) Act, 1988 and thereafter annually, an amount equal to twenty five per centum of the fees realised by it on account of enrolment of Advocates during the year.

9. Welfare stamp on Vakalatnama

(1)     Every member of the Scheme shall affix on the Vakalatnama accepted by him a Welfare Stamp of the value of five rupees in the case of Vakalatnama filed in the High Court or a Tribunal or any other authority or person and two rupees in any other case and no court, tribunal, authority or person shall receive any Vakalatnama in favour of such member unless it is so stamped in addition to any stamp required under any other law for the time being in force.

(2)     The value of the Welfare Stamp shall neither be taxable cost in the suit or proceeding nor be collected in any event from a party to such suit or proceeding.

(3)     Any contravention of the provisions of sub-section (2) by any member shall disentitle him to the benefits of the Scheme and shall be deemed to be a misconduct and the Trustees committee shall report the matter to the State Bar Council for appropriate action.

(4)     Every Welfare Stamp affixed on a Vakalatnama under sub-section (1) shall be cancelled in the manner provided in section 30 of the Court Fees Act, 1870.

10. Printing and sale of welfare stamps

(1)     The State Government shall cause to be printed Welfare Stamps for the purposes of this Act, in such design and such denomination as it thinks fit with the words "Welfare Stamp" printed thereon.

(2)     The State Government shall control the distribution and sale of Welfare Stamps through stamp vendors appointed by it for the sale of court fee stamps or through such other agency as it may deem fit.

(3)     The State Government shall, at the close of every financial year transfer the sale proceeds of the Welfare Stamps after deducting the costs incurred in printing, sale and distribution of the stamps to the account of the Fund.

(4)     The State Government shall furnish to the Trustees Committee a Statement containing the number of welfare stamps printed and sold, the details of costs deducted and the amount transferred under this section to the account of the Fund, within three months of such transfer.

11. Membership of the scheme

(1)     Any advocate may apply to the Secretary, Trustees Committee in such form as may be prescribed, for admission as a member of the Scheme.

(2)     Every applicant shall pay in the prescribed manner an admission fee of one hundred rupees in lump sum with the application.

(3)     The Trustees Committee may, on receipt of the application and the admission fee, make such inquiry as it deems fit and shall either admit the applicant to the membership of the Scheme, or for reasons to be recorded in writing, reject the application and refund the amount paid towards admission fee:

Provided that no application shall be rejected unless the applicant has been given an opportunity of being heard.

(4)     The membership of an applicant so admitted shall be deemed to have commenced on the first day of January of the year in which the application was made or the date of enrolment of the applicant as an Advocate, whichever is later.

(5)     Every member of the Scheme shall pay in the prescribed manner an annual subscription for every calendar year on or before the thirty-first day of December of that year at the rate of?

(a)      fifty rupees, where he has practised as an advocate for not more than 5 years;

(b)      one hundred rupees, where he has practised as an advocate for more than 5 years but not more than 10 years;

(c)      two hundred and fifty rupees, where he has practised as an advocate for more than 10 years.

Explanation--For the purposes of this sub-section,--

(i)       practice as an advocate includes practice as a pleader or other legal practitioner enrolled under the Legal Practitioners Act, 1879 or as an Advocate on the roll of any Bar Council constituted under the Advocates Act, 1961;

(ii)      the period of practice shall be reckoned as on the first day of the calendar year for which the subscription is payable or the date of enrolment as a legal practitioner or an Advocate, whichever is later.

12. Cessation of membership and re-admission

(1)     A member of the Scheme shall cease to be such member, if?

(a)      he dies,

(b)      his name is removed from the State Roll maintained by the State Bar Council;

(c)      he resigns the membership;

(d)      he is in arrears of annual subscription for a period of two years or more and the Trustees Committee after giving him an opportunity to show cause, terminates his membership.

(2)     An advocate who has ceased to be a member of the Scheme, may, on his written application and on payment of the arrears of annual subscription which he would have paid, if his membership had continued, together with interest thereon at the rate of eighteen per centum per annum, be readmitted to the membership of the Scheme provided his name is restored or, as the case may be, continues on the State Roll maintained by the State Bar Council.

13. Payment from the Fund' on cessation of membership

(1)     A member of the Scheme shall on ceasing to be such member, be entitled to receive from the Fund:--

(a)      an amount equal to the aggregate of annual subscriptions paid by him, if he has been a member for a period of less than 5 years,

(b)      an amount calculated at the rate of Rs. 1000 for every completed year of his membership, if he has been a member for a period of five years or more subject to a maximum of Rs. 50,000.

(2)     In the event of death of a member the amount payable under subsection (1) shall be paid to his nominee, or where there is no nominee, to his legal heirs.

Explanation--For the purposes of this sub-section, the term member includes a person who dies after ceasing to be a member before receiving payment under sub-section (1).

14. Restriction on alienation attachment etc of interest of members

Notwithstanding any thing contained in any other law for the time being in force, the right or interest of any member of the Scheme or his nominee or legal heirs to receive any amount from the Fund under section 13 shall not be alienated or charged and shall not be liable to attachment under any decree or order of any court.

15. Protection of action taken in goodfaith

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Trustees Committee, or any member or officer thereof in respect of anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of this Act or the rules made thereunder.

16. Power to make rules

(1)     The State-Government may, by notification; make rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.

(2)     Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:--

(a)      the form and the manner in which application for membership of the Scheme may be made;

(b)      the manner of payment of admission fee and annual subscription for the membership of the Scheme;

(c)      the form and the manner in which the list of members of the Scheme shall be maintained and its copies or extracts shall be communicated to courts to enable them to ensure compliance of the provision of section 9;

(d)      the form and the manner in which application for payment under section 13 Shall be made and the procedure of inquiry, if any, to be made by the Trustees Committee for such payment;

(e)      the form and the manner in which nomination to receive payment under section 13 may be made;

(f)       any other matter which has to be or may be prescribed."

Section 5 - Repeal

The Uttar Pradesh Advocates Welfare Fund (Amendment) Ordinance, 1988 (U.P. Ordinance No. 12 of 1988), is hereby repealed.