New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said that not more than Rs 600 can be charged for enrolling law graduates as advocates across the country and observed that Parliament may have to amend the law to provide better funding for bar councils.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising Justice J B Pardiwala told senior advocate Manan Kumar Mishra, chairperson of the Bar Council of India that Parliament may have to amend the Act, to provide for better funding of the bar councils. "You tell an Odia lawyer from a backward district that pay 42,000 for enrolment, they cannot enroll," the CJI told Mishra.
The apex court reserved its verdict on nearly 10 petitions challenging "exorbitant" fees being levied by state bar bodies for the purpose. The bench referred to Section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961 and said the fee for a law graduate to be enrolled as a lawyer is Rs 600.
“Mr S. Prabakaran and Mr Mishra, you have to hear the voices of young lawyers who are appearing…”, said the CJI. The BCI’s counsel urged the court to see the inflation and welfare schemes run by the bar councils and stressed that Rs 600 was fixed in 1993, 31 years ago. “We will also in our judgment say that it is important that the Parliament must revisit the Rs 600 enrolment fee…it is in Parliament's domain," said CJI.
The apex court was informed that out of Rs 600, 80 percent is retained by the state bar council and 20 percent goes to the BCI. Mishra submitted that in Bihar, “we used to pay Rs 25,000 per head to lawyers for either cancer or kidney disease”.
A counsel, representing a state bar council, said sustaining on Rs 600 is not possible to run the bar council and cited the salary of the staff employed by the bar council. The other side argued that law students’ cannot pay a hefty sum as enrolment fee and young aspiring lawyers do not have necessary resources.
After hearing detailed submissions by both sides, the bench said, "Nothing can be charged in excess of Rs 600... If you want to increase the enrolment fee, then it is for Parliament to increase the enrolment fee…”
Earlier, the apex court had sought response from the Centre, the BCI and other state bar bodies on the pleas, saying they raised a significant issue. The petitioners’ have claimed that charging "exorbitant" enrolment fees violated the legal provision and the BCI must step in to ensure it was not done. In a previous hearing, the petitioners’ alleged that the enrolment fees in Odisha is Rs 42,100, in Gujarat Rs 25,000, in Uttarakhand Rs 23,650, in Jharkhand Rs 21,460 and in Kerala Rs 20,050.
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