The Bar Council of Delhi, under the stewardship of its Chairman, Mr Ramesh Gupta, and the entire team has been doing some tremendous work towards the covid relief measure ever since the 2nd wave has hit India. Like many other sectors, the legal industry too witnessed thousands of serious health issues & fatalities. Delhi being the national capital and housing several courts, also has one of the highest number of advocates in any bar council of India. It was natural that the covid impact in Delhi has been one of the harshest.

The Bar council of Delhi moved fast & set up the war room which has been instrumental in the Covid relief measures and has so far helped close to 2500 of its members in various capacities and continues to do so. The nodal officer appointed by the state Govt. has provided ample support for smooth hospitalization of lawyers and their immediate relatives.

The council has been supporting with quality treatment to its members who are covid-19 affected and their immediate family through The Bar Council of Delhi, Covid Fund. The details of various help are as follows:

• Lawyer under Home Quarantine – 15,000/- INR (To date, 2287 lawyers are already benefited)
• Lawyer under Hospitalization, who are not covered under insurance – 50,000/- INR (To date, 33 lawyers are already benefited)
• The facility of 110 oxygen cylinder in circulation (Home delivery and Refilling Facility)
• Distribution of free grocery kits to needy and Home Quarantine lawyers and their immediate family. (To date, 2000 grocery kits are already distributed worth 40,00,000/- INR)

To date, 2320 enrolled lawyers and their immediate family has already been benefited, and an amount of 3, 59, 55,000/- INR has already been spent towards the cause.

Mr Manoj K Singh, Chairman, Executive Committee & Spokesperson, Bar Council of Delhi, said, “As we know how severe the 2nd wave of the pandemic has been for all and same goes for our legal fraternity as well. Many of our members are unable to get the medical help they need because of financial problems, and hence in these challenging times, if we don’t come forward, who else will. That is why we have been standing by with our brothers and sisters who need our support during this crisis. We are happy and humbled to have touched upon so many lives, and we will not stop until this pandemic is over”.

The Bar Council will also launch a crowdfunding initiative where every fraternity member can come forward and contribute towards this cause so that this covid relief drive keeps going on till the situation is normalized again. It is to be noted that a drive like this is one of the largest when serving the professionals of a particular community.