Section 18 in The Maharashtra Advocates Welfare Fund Regulations, 1983
18. Benefits and amenities to member Advocates.
(1)The Trustee Committee may provide the following other benefits and amenities including financial assistance to the members of the Fund under sub-clause (d) of sub-section (1) of section 23 :-(a)in case a member is bed-ridden at home due to sickness necessitating cessation of practice for a period exceeding one month;(b)in case of a member requiring to be hospitalised and is required to stay in hospital for medical treatment or for surgical operations or for investigations;(c)in case of a member suffering from asthma, cancer, heart disease, leprosy or paralysis (partial or permanent), tuberculosis or suffering from disablement (partial or permanent) or any other disease, provided the member has not availed himself of the retirement benefit under section 17, the expenses incurred in respect of medical consultation, treatment, investigations, drugs and medicine and hospital expenses including surgical operation;(d)for the higher education of the member concerned;(e)for the education of the children of the member concerned;(f)grant loan repayable with such interest as the Trustee Committee may, in its discretion thinks fit, to a member requiring medical treatment and illness of dependants.(2)The Trustee Committee shall consider each application on its own merits and may grant such application to such extent as is feasible only after it is satisfied that the application is genuine and the particulars disclosed therein are correct and having regard to the funds at its disposal.(3)(a)In case the member concerned has already incurred medical expenses for hospitalisation or other medical treatment and for education purposes, the member concerned shall produce original receipts or vouchers for the expenses actually incurred in support of his application in order to enable the Trustee Committee to consider and decide as to what extent the expenses should be reimbursed to the applicant.(b)The Trustee Committee may enter into arrangements that hospitals, nursing homes, medical practitioners, colleges, universities, etc. with whom the applicant is concerned may be directed for the purposes of medical help and for higher education, as the case may be. The Trustee Committee may release the amount sanctioned wholly or in part directly to the hospital authorities or other individual or institute concerned. Similarly the Trustee Committee may forward the amount to the educational institute concerned in case the assistance is for higher education. In a fit and appropriate case, the Trustee Committee may pay any amount to the applicant in advance on his undertaking to utilise the same only for the purpose for which the amount is sanctioned. The Trustee Committee may do so on being assured by the member and after being satisfied about the bona fides of applicant and after examining the estimates from reputed medical practitioners and institutes for the hospitalisation, treatment or educational facility, as the case may be. The Trustee Committee shall use its discretion in these matters depending upon the urgency of the situation. It shall be open to the Trustee Committee to dispense with procedural matters for speeding up the disbursement of the amount in case it so thinks fit and proper.(4)The Trustee Committee may grant such financial assistance or loan in the aforesaid cases from such funds in such manner as the Trustee Committee may think proper having regard to the funds at their disposal and having regard to the circumstances mentioned by the applicant in his application.(5)Application for the aforesaid benefits and amenities shall be made in the Form No. IX or X, as the case may be.(6)On receipt of an application, the Trustee Committee shall, by itself or through a sub-committee or by such other method or by the Bar Council or by the Bar Association concerned, make necessary enquiries including whether the applicant deserves financial assistance and determine the extent of the assistance and aid required. The Trustee Committee shall be competent to examine the applicant or to call for and examine the record in possession of the Bar Council or the Bar Association or any other person for the aforesaid purposes. The proceedings of the Trustee Committee or the sub-committee for the aforesaid purposes shall be treated as confidential.(7)If an applicant makes any statement or furnishes any information which is discovered to be false to his knowledge, it shall amount to a professional misconduct.(8)The Trustee Committee may in appropriate cases call upon the applicant to refund the financial assistance or aid fully or partly given to the applicant if the applicant had obtained assistance or aid by making material mis-statements or giving false information or by suppression of material fact or information or if after the grant of the assistance, there is a material change, in the opinion of the Trustee Committee, in the circumstances of the applicant. The decision of the Trustee Committee shall be final and conclusive and it shall be the obligation of the applicant to comply with the said decision. The Trustee Committee may, in its discretion, withdraw or vary the assistance from time to time.
