Enrolment Fees charged by BCI, State Bar Councils cannot exceed limit set by Advocates Act: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday held that the enrolment fees charged by State Bar Councils and the Bar Council of India (BCI) for enrolment of lawyers cannot exceed the limit prescribed by the Advocates Act..A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala said that Section 24(1)(f) of the Advocates Act lays down the fees that can be collected by State Bar Councils and BCI, which is ₹750 for general category candidates and ₹125 for Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribe candidates."There is no provision under Advocates Act to charge miscellaneous fee and is contrary to Advocates Act. Only enrolment fee as under the statute and the stamp duty is all that is payable. State Bar Councils and BCI cannot demand any fee beyond what is there under Advocates Act," the Court said in its judgment.The Court, therefore, ordered BCI and State Bar Councils to ensure that the provision is not flouted under the garb of levying any other charges.The judgment will be applicable prospectively which means any excess fees collected up until now need not be refunded.The Court held the following in its verdict:1. No fees beyond Section 24(1)(f) Advocates Act; 2. No fee other than enrolment fee and stamp duty charges;3. Any charge other than what is stipulated under the Act is in violation of Article 19)(1)(d) of the Constitution or right to carry on profession;4. The judgment has prospective effect and thus BCI and State Bar Councils need not refund the amount already collected.However, the Court said that Bar councils can charge for services like legal aid etc being rendered but not at the time of enrolment of lawyers..The Court delivered the judgment in a petition concerning high enrolment fees set by various State Bar Councils including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar PradeshThe petitions challenging the same were pending before various High Courts. The BCI then filed a transfer petition before the apex court to transfer the matters pending before various High Courts to the Supreme Court so as to avoid multiplicity of proceedings in relation the same issue.The Supreme Court allowed the same and transferred all the cases to itself. During the hearing of the case in April this year, advocate Vrinda Bhandari, representing one of the petitioners, shed light on the financial hardships faced by her client, who hails from the marginalized Pardhi community. She highlighted that the petitioner paid ₹21,000 for his enrolment and ₹1,500 for the enrolment form itself."He had to fundraise privately through a WhatsApp campaign because he did not have the money to pay for it," she added..Senior Advocates Manan Kumar Mishra and S Prabhakaran, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Bar Council of India (BCI) respectively, supported the fees, citing welfare measures that bar councils undertake for lawyers..[Read judgment]