NO MORE ‘OPTIONAL’ FEES: SUPREME COURT CAPS ADVOCATE ENROLMENT CHARGES

The Supreme Court of India by a categorical decision has gone far to totally exhibit State Bar Councils (SBCs) to receive more than what is statutorily stipulated amount of fee as a condition to enrol as an advocate. In the judgment, it is made clear that any additional costs such as the optionally marked charges are illegal. The ruling has strengthened a previous case and seeks to provide fair and consistent procedure of enrolling law graduates.

Facts 

The case was in the nature of a contempt petition that K. L. J. A. Kiran Babu had filed in the Supreme Court against the Karnataka State Bar Council. The petitioner argued that the council had since December 1, 2024 disregarded an earlier judgment of the Supreme Court of July 30, 2024, which had prohibited excessive charging of enrolment fees by the SBCs. The Karnataka SBC had been charged with collecting additional amounts of Rs. 6,800 and Rs. 25,000 which were refuted by the council as optional fees to avail some of the services such as ID cards, certificates as well as welfare funds.

Issue Raised

The main question was whether the State Bar Councils have a legal right to impose any form of fees beyond the statutory enrolment fee prescribed by Section 24(1)( f) of the Advocates Act, 1961.

Observation and Judgement

The bench composed of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan simply dismissed the defense that the additional fees are just optional. The Court categorically made it clear that there exists nothing such as optional. It directed that no State Bar Council or the Bar Council of India is supposed to collect any fee of whatever amount in the guise that it is optional. This Court had the chance to reinforce the main principle of its previous case of Gaurav Kumar v. Union of India. In the judgment, it was re-affirmed that the SBCs are not legally allowed to receive any kind of enrolment fee other than what is clearly spelt in the Section 24(1) (f) of the advocates Act, 1961. Stipulated fee is the only required fiscal precondition of enrolment as well as any ensuing stamp duty. No other fees can be charged as conditions of admission by SBCs and Bar Council of India. The charging of fee over the amount defined by law is in direct contravention of the fundamental rights as it is guaranteed by the law. The constitutional rights namely Article 14 and Article 19(1)(g). The ruling will prospectively apply implying that SBCs will not be necessary have to pay back excess fees charged before the date of the original judgment, which is July 30, 2024. Based on such weighty observations, the Court clearly directed the Karnataka State Bar Council not to further practice, with immediate effect, the collection of any optional amount. With this stern order, the contempt petition was dismissed such that it strictly acted in accordance with the law.