CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Friday directed the state government to release Rs 7 crore as an interim measure to the Advocates Welfare Fund Trust within ten days and sought the chairman of the trust to disburse the amount to the families of deceased advocates within a week of receiving the money.

A bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and C Kumarappan expressed displeasure over the fact that 441 applications seeking to avail of the welfare fund had been pending for a long time. It then directed the State to release the fund in the name of the Registrar General of the High Court who will later transfer it to the beneficiaries.

They were hearing a petition seeking to implement and enforce the Advocates' Welfare Fund Act, 2001, in Puducherry.

When the government is settling welfare benefits due to its employees which run to several crores, it is bound to do so within a reasonable period of time, the judges wrote in their order. "It is a welfare scheme, statutorily constituted and therefore, there is no reason to keep such a large number of applications pending for long duration," the bench said.

It then directed the Advocate General (AG) as the chairman of the Advocates Welfare Fund Trust to disburse the admissible amount to the beneficiaries (deceased advocates) in chronological order, based on their deaths.

The bench also directed the court's registry to place the matter before it on July 19 to ascertain compliance with its directions.

AG PS Raman submitted that as of today, Rs.13.03 crore is available in the welfare fund account and that it was enhanced from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.