{"id":356241,"date":"2025-08-11T12:30:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T07:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/?p=356241"},"modified":"2025-08-13T16:02:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T10:32:42","slug":"bci-state-bar-councils-cannot-collect-optional-fees-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/08\/11\/bci-state-bar-councils-cannot-collect-optional-fees-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018There is nothing like optional\u2019; BCI &amp; State Bar Councils cannot collect any \u2018optional\u2019 fees: Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify; line-height: 150%;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">Supreme Court:<\/span> While considering a contempt petition concerning non-compliance of directions issued by the Supreme Court in <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Gaurav Kumar v. Union of India<\/span>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink\/I5WU686J\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">(2025) 1 SCC 641<\/a>, as regards to enrolment fee which the State Bar Council are entitled to collect, the Division Bench of J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan, JJ., clarified that <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">State Bar Councils or Bar Council of India shall<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">not collect any fees of any amount as optional<\/span>. The Court emphasised that the Bar Councils shall strictly collect fees in accordance with the directions issued by this Court in the main judgment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Counsel appearing for the Bar Council of India submitted an affidavit detailing the Fee Structure as reported by various State Bar Councils in compliance with <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Gaurav Kumar (supra)<\/span> decision and stated that the Supreme Court directions are being followed.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\"><span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Per contra<\/span>, the contempt petitioner alleged that Karnataka State Bar Council charging amounts of Rs 6800 and Rs 25,000 respectively over and above the statutory fees.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Answering to the above allegation, the counsel for BCI submitted that the afore-stated amounts are optional and not mandatory.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">Perusing the affidavit, allegations levelled by the contempt petitioner and directions issued by the Supreme Court in <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Gaurav Kumar<\/span> (supra), the Court strictly clarified that, <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">\u201c<span style=\"font-style: italic;\">there is nothing like optional\u201d.<\/span> <\/span>The Court further reiterated the directions in <span style=\"font-style: italic;\">Gaurav Kumar<\/span> (supra) and directed that <span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">if Karnataka State Bar Council is collecting any amount in the name of optional, though it may not be mandatory, it must be stopped<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%; font-weight: bold;\">Read also: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2024\/07\/30\/bar-councils-cannot-charge-more-than-amount-specified-under-s-24-of-advocates-act-enrollment-fees-supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bar Councils cannot charge more than amount specified under S. 24 of Advocates Act as enrolment fees: Supreme Court<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 3%;\">[<span style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #632423;\">KLJA Kiran Babu v. Karnataka State Bar Council, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scconline.com\/DocumentLink\/yCW8A7z6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2025 SCC OnLine SC 1659<\/a>, decided on 4-8-2025<\/span>]<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Advocates who appeared in this case:<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 18pt;\">Petitioner \u2014in-person<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-left: 18pt;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold;\">For Respondent(s):<\/span> Mr. Manan Kumar Mishra, M\/S. Ram Sankar &amp; Co, AOR Sr. Adv. Mr. R Balasubramanian, Sr. Adv. Ms. Anjul Dwivedi, Adv. Dr. Ram Sankar, Adv. Mrs. Harini Ramsankar, Adv. Mrs. Usha Prabakaran, Adv. Mr. Maheswaran A Prabakaran, Adv. Ms. Sujatha Bagadhi, Adv. Mr. Ajith Williyam S, Adv. Mr. N Adhil, Adv. Mr. H. Chandra Sekhar, AOR<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-style: italic;\">A contempt petition was filed before the Court alleging that State Bar Councils are not complying with directions given in Gaurav Kumar v. Union of India, (2025) 1 SCC 641 with specific allegations for Karnataka State Bar Council.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":356248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[86948,12381,71546,86947,73872,86949,43635],"class_list":["post-356241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casebriefs","category-supremecourt","tag-bar-council-enrolment-fees","tag-bar-council-of-india","tag-enrolment-fees","tag-gaurav-kumar-v-union-of-india","tag-karnataka-state-bar-council","tag-optional-fees","tag-state-bar-councils"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>BCI\/State Bar Councils cannot collect Optional Fees: SC | SCC Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Supreme Court has clarified that BCI\/State Bar councils cannot collect Optional Fees\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/08\/11\/bci-state-bar-councils-cannot-collect-optional-fees-supreme-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018There is nothing like optional\u2019; BCI &amp; State Bar Councils cannot collect any \u2018optional\u2019 fees: Supreme Court\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Supreme Court has clarified that BCI\/State Bar councils cannot collect Optional Fees\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/post\/2025\/08\/11\/bci-state-bar-councils-cannot-collect-optional-fees-supreme-court\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SCC Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/scc.online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-11T07:00:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-13T10:32:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scconline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Bar-councils-cannot-collect-Optional-Fees.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"888\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"591\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sucheta\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"\u2018There is nothing like optional\u2019; BCI &amp; State Bar Councils cannot collect any \u2018optional\u2019 fees: Supreme Court\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sucheta\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/11\\\/bci-state-bar-councils-cannot-collect-optional-fees-supreme-court\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/11\\\/bci-state-bar-councils-cannot-collect-optional-fees-supreme-court\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sucheta\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7416b8c43cd3a0a3412cf97fc17b54fa\"},\"headline\":\"\u2018There is nothing like optional\u2019; BCI &amp; State Bar Councils cannot collect any \u2018optional\u2019 fees: Supreme Court\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-11T07:00:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-13T10:32:42+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/11\\\/bci-state-bar-councils-cannot-collect-optional-fees-supreme-court\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":362,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/post\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/11\\\/bci-state-bar-councils-cannot-collect-optional-fees-supreme-court\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scconline.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/Bar-councils-cannot-collect-Optional-Fees.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"bar council enrolment fees\",\"Bar Council of India\",\"enrolment fees\",\"Gaurav Kumar v. 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