While observing that there would be no difficulty in implementing policy on health insurance of State Advocates, the Jharkhand High Court has disposed of a PIL filed by an Advocate after considering the stand of the State that the annual premium of Rs 6000 per registered advocate would be paid.

The High Court was considering a Public Interest Litigation filed by a practising Advocate seeking a direction to the Ministry of Law and Justice and the State Government to immediately provide financial aid to the Jharkhand State Bar Council so that it may support all the needy regular practitioner Advocates of the State of Jharkhand.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice M.S. Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar held, “Considering the statements made in the affidavit of Dr Neha Arora and the submissions made by Mr Gaurav Raj on behalf of the State of Jharkhand, we are satisfied that the reliefs prayed for in this petition stand substantially worked out. If there is any real necessity for Gazette publication, we are sure that the respondent State would ensure such publication, if such publication has not already been made, within a reasonable period. In any event, without going into the issue of Gazette publication, we have already recorded Mr Gaurav Raj's submissions that there would be no difficulty in implementing the policy on the grounds of non-publication of the resolution in the official Gazette.”

Advocate Md Shadab Ansari represented the Petitioner, while Additional Solicitor General Prashant Pallav represented the Respondent.

Arguments

Referring to the supplementary counter-affidavit on behalf of the State of Jharkhand (Health Department), the Counsel for the State submitted that the State had not only agreed to obtain a health insurance policy for advocates but had also made the necessary budgetary provisions under the ‘Non-Salary Head’. A resolution was passed on January 24, 2025, by the Department of Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, Jharkhand Government, deciding that the annual premium of Rs. 6000 per registered Advocate would be paid. It was further submitted that it was stated in the notification that an updated premium amount would be communicated from time to time to the Jharkhand Advocates Welfare Trustee Committee.

Reasoning

The Bench accepted the contention of the State that there would be no difficulty in implementing the policy, simply because it has not been published in the official Gazette to date. The Bench was of the view that the reliefs prayed for in the petition stood substantially worked out.

Dealing with the contention of the petitioner and the Jharkhand State Bar Council that it would be better if the resolution dated January 24, 2025 were duly published in the official Gazette, the Bench stated, “If there is any real necessity for Gazette publication, we are sure that the respondent State would ensure such publication, if such publication has not already been made, within a reasonable period.”

The Bench thus disposed of the Petition by recording the State Counsel’s submission that there would be no difficulty in implementing the policy on the grounds of non-publication of the resolution in the official Gazette.

Cause Title: Bidesh Kumar Dan v. Union of India (Neutral Citation: 2026:JHHC:16211-DB)

Appearance

Petitioner: Advocate Md Shadab Ansari

Respondent: ASGI Prashant Pallav, CGC Radha Krishan Gupta, AC to AAG-II Gaurav Raj, Advocates Prashant Kumar Singh, Karbir, Manoj Tandon, Neha Bhardwaj, Siddharth Ranjan

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Jharkhand High CourtJustice M.S SonakJustice Rajesh Shankar

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.