Shreya Gupta
On 25th August, 2025,, the Supreme Court issued notice in a writ petition alleging that the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh is charging ₹14,000 in the name of a certificate of practice, which the petition claims violates the Court’s decision in Gaurav Kumar v. Union of India (2024).
In Gaurav Kumar (2024), the Court held that Bar Councils cannot charge enrolment fees beyond what Section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961 prescribes, namely, that the enrolment fee cannot exceed ₹750 for advocates in the general category and ₹125 for advocates in the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes categories.
When the matter was mentioned before a Division Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan, the Court queried why such petitions continued to be filed despite the existing judgment; counsel for petitioner Deepak Yadav, a practising advocate, responded that before the Gaurav Kumar judgment the UP Bar Council had been charging ₹16,500 as enrolment fees and that, despite the Court’s ruling limiting fees to the amounts in Section 24, the Council is now charging ₹14,000 as a purported “certificate of practice,” pointing to an official communication by the UP Bar Council. Viewing that communication as prima facie in conflict with the Court’s 2024 directions, the bench noted that
“The issue raised in this writ petition has been set at rest by the decision Gaurav Kumar dated 30 July, 2024… He has brought to our notice a communication dated 20 July 2025, which reads thus. Prima facie, the communication issued by the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh is in direct conflict with directions issued in Gaurav. Issue notice.”
The Bench had clarified that neither the Bar Council of India nor the State Bar Councils may collect any fees over and above the statutory fees as an “optional fee” for enrolment.
Case Name: Deepak Yadav Vs. Bar Council Of India
Case No.: W.P.(C) No. 774/2025
Bench: Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice KV Viswanathan
Click here to access the order
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