{"id":2201,"date":"2024-08-13T17:49:22","date_gmt":"2024-08-13T12:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/?p=2201"},"modified":"2024-08-13T17:49:22","modified_gmt":"2024-08-13T12:19:22","slug":"supreme-court-rules-that-exhobitant-enrollment-fees-charged-by-state-bar-councils-violate-right-to-profession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/supreme-court-rules-that-exhobitant-enrollment-fees-charged-by-state-bar-councils-violate-right-to-profession\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme court rules that exhobitant enrollment fees charged by state bar councils violate right to profession"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gaurav Kumar\u00a0 [<\/strong>Petitioner]\u00a0 Vs. <\/strong>Union of India and Ors.\u00a0 \u00a0 [<\/strong>Respondents]<\/h1>\n

Writ Petition (C) No. 352 of 2023<\/p>\n

(3JB, CJI Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra JJ., delivered by CJI Chandrachud<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Supreme Court of India, in the case of Gaurav Kumar vs. Union of India<\/em><\/strong>, ruled that the exorbitant enrollment fees charged by state bar councils violate the right to profession, dignity, and equality. This decision emphasizes that such high fees create barriers for individuals aspiring to join the legal profession, thus undermining their constitutional rights.The Court highlighted that the right to practice a profession is a fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) of the Indian Constitution. Charging unreasonable fees for enrollment to the bar effectively restricts this right and disproportionately affects individuals from economically weaker sections. This ruling mandates state bar councils to reassess and possibly reduce their enrollment fees to ensure that the legal profession remains accessible to all, irrespective of their financial background.<\/p>\n

The issue decided by the court was that whether the enrolment fees charged by the SBCs are in contravention of Section 24(1)(f) of the Advocates Act; and whether payment of other miscellaneous fees can be made a pre-condition for enrolment. Mr Gaurav Kumar, the petitioner-in-person submitted that SBCs are charging exorbitant enrolment fees, often under different heads, in derogation of Section 24(1)(f) and once there is a specific provision prescribing enrolment fees, the SBCs or the BCI through their delegated rule-making power cannot charge fees beyond the substantive provision. Therefore, the BCI and the SBCs cannot invoke their powers to frame rules under Section 49(1) and Section 28(1) of the Advocates Act respectively to prescribe enrolment fees that are at variance with Section 24(1)(f).<\/p>\n

Mr Manan Kumar Mishra, senior counsel submitted that Bar Councils require adequate operational funds to effectively discharge their functions. They require funds for day-to-day functioning including administrative expenses, staff salaries, infrastructure maintenance and technological advancements. Inadequate funding will hinder the ability of SBCs to comply with their statutory obligations under the Advocates Act. The enrollment fee prescribed under Section 24(1)(f) was fixed by the legislature in 1993 and has not been modified since. It fails to account for inflation and is not adequate to meet current financial demands. Unlike other professional bodies that levy an annual subscription fee on members, SBCs rely on the one-time enrolment fee.<\/p>\n

The court disposed off the present petition holding that, \u201cThe excess enrolment fee imposed by the SBCs is without authority of law. Compounded with this there are no reasonable criteria behind the decision of the SBCs to charge such exorbitant amounts as enrolment fees. The SBCs cannot have unbridled powers to charge any fees given the express legislative policy under Section 24(1)(f). Imposing excessive financial burdens on young law graduates at the time of enrolment causes economic hardships, especially for those belonging to the marginalized and economically weaker sections of the society. Therefore, the current enrolment fee structure charged by the SBCs is unreasonable and infringes Article 19(1)(g).\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gaurav Kumar\u00a0 [Petitioner]\u00a0 Vs. Union of India and Ors.\u00a0 \u00a0 [Respondents] Writ Petition (C) No. 352 of 2023 (3JB, CJI Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra JJ., delivered by CJI Chandrachud)   The Supreme Court of India, in the case of Gaurav Kumar vs. Union of India, ruled that the exorbitant enrollment fees […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-judgement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2204,"href":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2201\/revisions\/2204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xpertslegal.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}