Telangana High Court seeks response from BCI, Telangana Bar Council on challenge to ₹27,500 enrolment fee for lawyers

The Telangana High Court on Wednesday issued notice on a plea challenging the ₹27,500 enrolment fee charged by the Bar Council for the State of Telangana (BCST) for law graduates. [Vijay Gopal v Bar Council for State of Telangana].A Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice N V Shravan Kumar has sought the response the Bar Council of India (BCI) and the State Bar Council of Telangana in the matter. .The plea was filed by a lawyer, who has argued that charging an enrolment fee of ₹27,500 was against the provisions of Section 24(1)(f) of the Advocates' Act, 1961, which allows for a maximum fee of only ₹750 for enrolment..The plea has asserted that the current fee charge is ultra vires and illegal."Current collection of enrolment fee under various heads of fee (application form, library fund, welfare fund, retirement fee, gap fee, verification fee or by whatever name called), by the Respondent No. 1 (BCST) is ultra vires, illegal and needless financial burden on the students seeking enrolment into the profession and also ultra vires the Advocates Act, 1961," the plea stated..The plea further submitted that charging more than ₹750 as enrolment fees for general category students, while charging less (₹125, in this case) for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates has already been declared as illegal in the Kerala High Court's ruling in T Koshi v State Bar Council of Kerala..The petitioner, advocate Vijay Gopal appeared in person.When the matter was taken up on November 8, Deputy Solicitor General of India, Gadi Praveen Kumar accepted notice on behalf of the Central government, whereas Advocate T Srikanth Reddy appeared for the State government. .On a related note, in June this year, the Kerala High Court directed the Bar Council of Kerala (BCK) to collect enrolment fees of ₹750 only from law graduates. Similar issues also cropped up before other High Courts, including the Bombay High Court and the Punjab and Haryana High Court.The matter eventually reached the Supreme Court after the BCI filed a transfer petition so that all such matters could be heard together by the top court. ."Important issue": Supreme Court issues notice on plea against non-uniform and exorbitant enrolment fees collected by State Bar Councils.[Read Order]