The Telangana High Court is set to deliberate on a legal challenge concerning the ₹3,500 fee levied by the Bar Council of India (BCI) for the 19th All India Bar Examination (AIBE) registration. The petition, spearheaded by Advocate Vijay Gopal, argues that the fee is excessively high and contradicts a Supreme Court ruling that caps enrollment and exam fees.
Gopal’s petition stresses that the AIBE, as a mandatory qualification for legal practice, should not impose such high fees beyond the enrollment fees already collected under Section 24(1)(f) of the Advocates Act, 1961. This follows the Supreme Court’s stance in the Gaurav Kumar vs Union of India case, where it was decided that fees set by the State Bar Councils and the BCI must adhere to statutory limits.
Currently, the enrollment fee stands at ₹750 for general candidates and ₹125 for candidates from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, as stipulated by the Advocates Act. The petitioner argues that the BCI’s fee for the AIBE, being nearly 400% higher than the enrollment fee, lacks a legislative foundation and infringes on rights protected under Article 14 of the Constitution.
The plea calls for the Court to deem the ₹3,500 fee arbitrary and restrain the BCI from imposing such fees in the future. Gopal also seeks a directive for the BCI to refund any such fees already collected and to stop outsourcing its statutory duties to third parties without legal justification.
The case is scheduled for further proceedings on November 27 before Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, where the BCI will present its response.
