The lockdown has affected the work of employees and professionals in every possible field. Lawyers are no exceptions. To relieve some of them of their distress the '"COVID-19 Financial Assistance and Grant Scheme" was announced by the Supreme Court Bar Association on the 25th of May, 2020. The Executive Committee of the SCBA announced this Grant Scheme to aid members 'facing serious hardships due to the lockdown'. 

The pre-condition for being beneficiaries of the Scheme would be that the members' names should have been mentioned in the voters' list of SCBA during the years 2015-2019. Furthermore, the Scheme is aimed towards those members in particular who are facing severe financial crisis due to the lockdown. The guidelines laid down by the SCBA regarding the potential beneficiaries also mention an income-limit i.e. only the members whose annual incomes are below Rs.8 Lakh are eligible for this scheme. Additionally, to avail the benefits of the scheme the applicants are required to furnish all the details of their membership in the prescribed form along with their SCBA membership number and serial number showing their existence in the voter list during the years 2015-2019. 

An important requirement mentioned in the guidelines is that the advocates must declare if they have benefited from any COVID-19 pertained assistance scheme or program, either in the form of a loan from SCBA under the scheme introduced in April OR the grant under SCAORA's COVID scheme. The details of such benefit have to be mandatorily attached with the application. 

The application must include all the details like residential address and membership number. The application can be sent via e-mail. The applicant advocate's identity will be kept confidential as far as possible. After the submission of the application, the Executive Committee will scrutinize it, which will have full discretion over the accpetance or rejection of such application. No further representations will be accepted after the EC's decision as it will be deemed final. 

The guidelines also make it clear that this Financial Assistance Scheme is not going to use the financial resources of the SCBA, instead, it is being funded by the 'generous payments and voluntary donations made by SCBA members'. The upper limit for the one-time financial assistance rendered as an ex-gratia benefit is set as Rs. 20,000. 

Eligible advocates can either mail their applications or send their them physically by 3rd June, 2020.