The country’s highest court has delivered a sharp rebuke to the Bar Council of India and its state counterparts, making it crystal clear: there is no such thing as an “optional fee” during advocate enrolment.
“No State Bar Council or the Bar Council of India shall collect any amount under the guise of optional,” the bench declared, stressing that only the statutory fees set out in the Advocates Act, 1961, may be collected — nothing more, nothing less.
This ruling reinforces the court’s 2024 Gaurav Kumar v. Union of India judgment, which pegs the maximum enrolment fee at ₹750 for general category advocates and ₹125 for SC/ST advocates.
The warning came while hearing a contempt plea against the Karnataka State Bar Council, accused of charging an eye-watering ₹6,800 and ₹25,000 over and above the legal cap. The petitioner argued this flouted the 2024 order outright.
In its defence, the BCI claimed it had instructed all state councils to comply with the fee limits, but the court found that Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Jammu & Kashmir were still demanding more than allowed. Some councils added “welfare fund” levies or inflated the official rates.
The court was unequivocal: such collections — whether labelled optional, welfare, or anything else — must cease immediately. The contempt case was disposed of, but the warning lingers like a gavel strike echoing through every council chamber in the country.
