Chennai, Jun 2 (IANS): The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has said it has not recognized the advocates associations in the Union territory of Puducherry which comes under the Madras High Court jurisdiction.

The bar council made its decision clear on Tuesday in response to an RTI filed by C. Elangovan, a Puducherry-based advocate.

Elangovan had in his RTI questioned as to why the advocate associations in regions under the UT of Puducherry, including Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam, and Mahe were not covered under the Advocates Welfare Fund Act (AWFA), 2001.

He had also mentioned that the advocates of all other bars in Tamil Nadu were enjoying the benefits of the AWFA.

The Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry said that it has not received any communication from the government of Puducherry on the implementation of the AWFA to lawyers in the Union Territory.

However, the Union government had passed the AWFA in 2001 and the government of Puducherry had passed a notification on the same in 2008.

The advocates who are enrolled under the AWFA get a slew of benefits. The bar council prints and sells Advocate Welfare Fund Stamps for Rs 3O and each advocate appearing before the Tamil Nadu bars must affix a Rs 30 stamp on the Vakkalnama and the memo of appearance filed by him. The fund thus raised is used for the welfare schemes of advocates.

Elangovan told IANS: "Yes I have received the reply to my query from the Bar council. Now I will take this up with the Government of Puducherry and communicate with the Bar council again to clear these discrepancies and make available the benefits of the AWFA for lawyers practicing in the UT of Puducherry."