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The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice in a plea challenging the single judge order which had extended the benefit of  Chief Ministers’s Advocate’s Welfare Scheme to all lawyers irrespective of their names appearing in the voters list of Delhi.

The notice was issued by the division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh on the appeal filed by Delhi Government against the single judge order.

Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar appearing for Delhi Government sought a stay on the single judge order on the pretext that the policy was "mistunderstood" by extending the benefits to advocates outside Delhi.

Having heard the Delhi Government, the Court issued notice to Bar Council of Delhi and the original petitioner before the Single Judge, Advocate Govind Swarup Chaturvedi and listed it for next hearing on September 30, 2021.

On July 12, 2021, the Single judge bench of Justice Pratibha M Singh had held that the condition that advocates enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi should also be in the voters list of Delhi for being eligible to avail of the benefits of the Delhi Chief Ministers Advocate Welfare Scheme runs foul of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

The order was passed by the single Judge on a batch of pleas against the condition in the Scheme that the benefit of the same will only be available to such advocates whose names appear in the voters list of Delhi.

Lauding the Scheme, the Court said that the Chief Minister’s Advocates Welfare Scheme announced by the GNCTD is a Scheme that has a laudable objective of recognising the role of lawyers in protecting the rights of citizens and their constructive role in society. However, the condition in the Scheme that it would be applicable only to residents in Delhi with Voter IDs, "is held to be discriminatory and arbitrary as the subclassification from amongst the advocates enrolled with the Bar Council of Delhi, has no rational nexus with the object to be achieved. Accordingly, the Scheme shall be extended to all advocates registered with the Bar Council of Delhi, whose names and credentials are verified, without insistence of Voter ID showing residence in Delhi".

Accordingly, the Court directed that for the current year’s policies, all advocates who had registered themselves and are eligible for the benefits under the Scheme shall be extended the benefit.

Case Title: GNCTD vs Govind Swarup Chaturvedi