State Bar Councils Cannot Charge More Than Rs 650 To Enrol Law Graduates as Lawyers: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The state bar councils cannot charge more than Rs 650 and Rs 125 for enrolling law graduates from general and SC-ST categories, respectively, as lawyers, ruled the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra had reserved its judgement on a batch of pleas challenging “exorbitant” fees being levied by state bar councils for the enrolling lawyers.

Referring to Section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961, the bench said the fee for a law graduate to be enrolled as a lawyer is Rs 650 and Parliament alone can increase it by amending the law.

The pleas alleged that enrolment fee is Rs 42,100 in Odisha, Rs 25,000 in Gujarat, Rs 23,650 in Uttarakhand, Rs 21,460 in Jharkhand and Rs 20,050 in Kerala.

The petitioners said that such high fees effectively deny enrolment to young aspiring lawyers who do not have the necessary resources.