The Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed alleging that the office bearers of the Bar Council of State of Andhra Pradesh misappropriated the amount collected through sale of stamps meant for the welfare of the Advocates.
The PIL has been filed by the petitioner who is practicing in one of the mofussil Courts in the State of Andhra Pradesh.
It is stated that the amount collected by the Bar Council of State of Andhra Pradesh was much more than what had been reflected by them in their records. It is stated that there was a discrepancy between the money collected actually and that shown in the status of the Bar Council. The information with regard to discrepancy it is stated was obtained from some WhatsApp messages which were being circulated on the WhatsApp groups.
P. Veera Reddy, Senior Counsel, appearing for respondent on the other hand stated that the petitioner was suffering from some misconception and had decided to file the petition in ignorance of the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Advocates’ Welfare Fund Act, 1987 and in particular Section 12-A which is reproduced hereunder:
“12-A. Apportionment of sale proceeds and the cost of Printing of Stamps –
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 12, out of the sale proceeds of the stamps worth of Rs .100/- [substituted by the Act No.12 of 2018, S.5], a sum of Rs.86/- [substituted by the Act No.12 of 2018, S.5] shall be credited to the Andhra Pradesh Advocates’ Welfare Fund and Rs.14/- [substituted by the Act No.12 of 2018, S.5] shall be credited to the Andhra Pradesh Advocates’ Clerks Welfare Fund and where such a stamp is affixed to Vakalat/Memo of Appearance, the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 12 shall be deemed to have been complied with.
(2) The cost of the printing of the stamps under sub-section (1) of section 12 shall be apportioned between the Andhra Pradesh Advocates’ Welfare Fund constituted under section 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Advocates’ Welfare Fund Act, 1987 and the Andhra Pradesh Advocates’ Clerks’ Welfare Fund constituted under section 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Advocates’ Clerks’ Welfare Fund Act, 1992 in such manner as may be prescribed.”
It is stated that out of the entire amount collected by way of sale of stamps only a part of it comes to the Bar Council while the rest goes towards Advocates’ Clerks’ Welfare Fund and that the discrepancy which is sought to be projected in the writ petition is the discrepancy which is bound to be there on account of the operation of the provisions of Section 12-A of the Act .
On a specific question addressed to the petitioner appearing in person, the Court was informed that he did not know that Section 12-A at all existed in the Andhra Pradesh Advocates’ Welfare Fund Act, 1987 and that the amount which was receivable by the Bar Council of State of Andhra Pradesh was to be less than the amount which was actually collected on the sale of stamps. It can therefore be clearly seen that the present petition was filed casually by the petitioner as a knee jerk reaction on the receipt of the WhatsApp messages circulating amongst various groups without verifying its authenticity and without in the least making any effort to seek clarity in regard thereto.
“We would have imposed costs of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) on the petitioner appearing in person, however, the petitioner pleaded that no such costs be imposed upon him inasmuch as he was an Advocate practicing in mofussil Court and would be unable to pay the same”, the order reads.