In big relief to law graduates, SC caps advocate enrolment fee at Rs 700

The Supreme Court has said that the current enrolment fee structure charged by the state bar councils is unreasonable as it causes excessive financial burdens on young law graduates

In a relief for law graduates, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Bar Council of India (BCI) and State Bar Councils (SBCs) cannot charge more than Rs 700 to enrol them as advocates.

Hearing a petition filed by Gaurav Kumar on Tuesday, the SC said that the current enrolment fee structure charged by the SBCs is unreasonable as it causes excessive financial burdens on young law graduates at the time of enrolment and causes economic hardships, especially for those belonging to the marginalised and economically weaker sections of society.

"The State Bar Councils cannot have unbridled powers to charge any fees given the express legislative policy under Section 24(1)(f)," said the SC bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala.

The court, however, made it clear that this decision would have a prospective effect. Therefore, the SBCs are not required to refund the excess enrolment fees collected before the date of this judgment.

"The result of this decision would have entitled advocates who have paid the excess enrolment fee to a refund from the SBCs. The SBCs have been levying the enrolment fees for a considerable duration and utilising the collected amounts to carry out their day-to-day functioning. Therefore, we declare that this judgement will have a prospective effect. Consequently, the SBCs are not required to refund the excess enrolment fees collected before the date of this judgement," the top court said.

The order came as the apex court was hearing closing petitions challenging the validity of the enrolment fees charged by the SBCs. The petitioner said that the fee charged by the SBCs at the time of admission is more than the enrolment fee prescribed under Section 24(1)(f) of the Advocates Act 1961.

Currently, SBCs charge several thousand as miscellaneous charges along with the registration fee. Odisha charges the highest, at Rs 42,000, followed by Manipur at Rs 16,600 and Maharashtra at Rs 15,000.

(With Agency inputs)