The funds were mobilised through CSR contributions as part of Sibal’s campaign promise during the SCBA presidential elections.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal was felicitated on Wednesday after the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) under his leadership raised over ₹43 crore for the welfare of advocates.
According to SCBA, a total of ₹43,43,50,000 was mobilised through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The effort was part of Sibal’s campaign mandate during the SCBA presidential elections.
The welfare fund is expected to support medical insurance claims and other financial benefits for advocates. The SCBA initiative was acknowledged at a meeting held on April 9 at Library 2 in the Supreme Court premises, where Sibal was felicitated by members of the Friday Group, an academic circle of Supreme Court lawyers.
Speaking at the function, Sibal said that the money is not for him but for the Bar of which is he a part.
“It is for the family (bar),” he said.
He further said that nobody, whom he had approached, turned him down including businessman Mukesh Ambani.
“Not a single person said no to me. From Mukesh Ambani to Torrent, just you name it. No friend of mine said no to me,” Sibal said.
The original goal of ₹50 crore is already within reach, he stated.
“We have ₹45 crore in the kitty and by April-end the balance will also come. My aim is to collect ₹60 crore.”
Advocate G Seshagiri, founder of the Friday Group, called for replication of such initiatives across the country.
“This felicitation has to percolate to respective state and district bars too. Let bar associations do their homework for their respective bars, for their welfare.”, he said in his speech.
Sibal explained that the long-term vision is to build a sustainable insurance scheme for advocates.
“I asked the insurance person what corpus we’d need for a scheme that lasts our whole lives. He said ₹120 crore. So, I said to myself if I raise ₹60 crore, the Supreme Court should match it.”
Sibal added that he had already spoken to Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna on the matter.