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.