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2014 (12) TMI 1340 - SC - Indian LawsWhether proviso to Section 16 Explanation II(5) of Tamil Nadu Advocates' Welfare Fund Act, 1987 denying the payment of two lakh rupees to the kin of advocates receiving pension or gratuity or other terminal benefits would be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India? Whether distinguishing this class of advocates from other law graduates enrolling in the Bar straight after their law degree did not have any rational basis? Held that:- As per the scheme of the Welfare Fund Act, every advocate who has enrolled with the State Bar Council as per the Advocates Act 1961 would not automatically become a member of the Advocates' Welfare Fund and it is only those advocates who applied to the Trustee Committee, can become member of the Advocates' Welfare Fund. As per Section 15 of the Welfare Fund Act, only those who applied on payment of membership of ₹ 200/- towards application shall be admitted as a member of the Fund. It is thus not in dispute, not only the advocates who have enrolled with the Bar Council immediately after completion of their law degree, but also those who enrolled as advocates after their retirement from other employment may become the members of the Advocates' Welfare Fund. It is only those advocates who have become the members of the Advocates' Welfare Fund, are eligible for the benefits under the Welfare Fund Act which may be the payment of schedule amount on cessation of practice in terms of Section 16(1) and payment of lump sum amount as per the impugned proviso. The persons who enrolled as advocates after their retirement even though they are denied the benefit of lump sum payment under the impugned proviso, on cessation of their practice, they shall be entitled to the Welfare Fund at the rate specified in the schedule. The differentiation of the retired employee-advocates who have set up practice as advocates after demitting their office, who are in receipt of pension or other terminal benefits and the advocates who set up practice straight from the law college, in our considered view, appears to be rational and reasonable. The said classification, in our view, has a nexus with the object sought to be achieved. Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Tamil Nadu Welfare Fund Act clearly states that the Welfare Fund is intended to provide welfare to the advocates and to provide them retirement benefits. - on cessation of practice, the members of the Welfare Fund are entitled to the benefits as available in the schedule to the Welfare Fund Act based on the years of service and what is denied is just a lump sum amount. It is an established principle that mere hardship caused to a group should not be a ground to strike down a law. While Article 14 forbids class legislation, it does not forbid reasonable classification of persons, objects, and transactions by the legislature for the purpose of achieving specific ends. But classification must not be "arbitrary, artificial or evasive". It must always rest upon some real and substantial distinction bearing a just and reasonable relation to the object sought to be achieved by the legislation - What is necessary is that there must be nexus between the basis of classification and the object of the Act. It is only when there is no reasonable basis for a classification that legislation making such classification may be declared discriminatory.
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