West Bengal Advocates Welfare Corporation Act, 2012
No: 5 Dated: Apr, 25 2012
THE WEST BENGAL ADVOCATES WELFARE CORPORATION ACT, 2012
West Bengal Act V of 2012
An Act to establish an Advocates Welfare Corporation in West Bengal.
WHEREAS it is expedient to provide for the establishment of Advocates Welfare Corporation for the welfare, rehabilitation and settlement of the Advocates practising in West Bengal and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto;
It is hereby enacted in the Sixty-third Year of the Republic of India by the Legislature of West Bengal, as follows:-
1. Short title, extent and commencement:- (1) This Act may be called the West Bengal Advocates Welfare Corporation Act, 2012.
(2) It extends to the whole of West Bengal.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
2. Definitions:- (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) "advocate" means an advocate whose name is entered in the State roll and who is a member of a Bar Association, but does not include an advocate to whom the provisions of this Act do not apply under section 29;
(b) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(d) "State Government" means the State Government in the Judicial Department;
(e) "stipend" means an allowance to be paid by the Corporation monthly for the purposes of this Act
(2) Words and expression used in this Act, but not defined shall have the same meaning as respectively assigned to them in the West Bengal Advocates Welfare Fund Act, 1991.
3. Incorporation:- (1) The State Government may, by notification, establish a Corporation to be known as the West Bengal Advocates Welfare Corporation.
(2) The Corporation shall be a body corporate by the name notified under sub-section (1), having perpetual succession and a common seal, and shall by the said name sue and be sued.
4. Constitution of the Corporation:- (1) The Corporation shall consist of the following members, namely:—
(a) Minister-in-charge, Law and Judicial Department, ex officio Chairperson;
(b) the Secretary, Judicial Department, Government of West Bengal, ex officio;
(c) the Secretary or an officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary, Law Department, Government of West Bengal, etc officio;
(d) the Legal Remembrancer, Government of West Bengal, ex officio;
(e) the Managing Director of the Corporation;
(f) such number of other members, not exceeding five, as the State Government may, by notification, appoint.
(2) The State Government shall appoint, if it thinks fit, one of the members as the Vice-Chairperson of the Corporation.
(3) The term of office, and the manner of filling casual vacancies in the offices, of the members of the Corporation shall be such as may be prescribed.
5. Disqualifications for membership:- A person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of the Corporation—
(a) if he is a lunatic or a person of unsound mind, or
(b) if he has been adjudged insolvent, or
(c) if he has been convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude, or
(d) if he has any financial interest in any work undertaken by the Corporation for execution.
6. Validity of acts and proceeding:- No act or proceeding of the Corporation shall be invalid by reason only of the existence or any vacancy amongst its members of any defect in the constitution thereof.
7. Transaction of business:- (1) The Corporation shall meet at such time and place and shall, subject to the provisions of sub-sections (2) and (3), observe such rules of procedure in regard to transaction of business at its meetings as may be provided by regulations made under this Act.
(2) The person to preside at a meeting of the Corporation shall be the Chairperson thereof or, in his absence from any meeting, the Vice-Chairperson, if any, or, in the absence of both the Chairperson and the Vice-Chairperson, such member as may be chosen by the members present from amongst themselves.
(3) All questions at a meeting of the Corporation shall be decided by majority of votes of the members present and voting and, in the case of equality of votes, the Chairperson or, in his absence, any other person presiding shall have a second or casting vote.