How much fee did Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud bill his client when he fought his first case in the Bombay High Court a long time ago as a legal professional, fresh out of law school?
Rs 60.
That’s what Chief Justice Chandrachud said on Monday while hearing a matter on charging “high fees” for enrolment in bar councils in different states.
In 1986, Chief Justice Chandrachud had returned from Harvard and started practising law in the Bombay High Court. That year, his first case was before Justice Sujata Manohar for an urgent hearing. He earned the Rs 60 fee for this work.
At that time, lawyers would not usually ask for fee in Indian rupees, but in gold ‘mohar’, as was done during the colonial days.
Case briefing files given to lawyers on behalf of their clients included a green docket on which the words “GM” (gold mohar), instead of rupees, would be written. There, lawyers would write their fee in “GM”.
One gold mohar was about Rs 15 at that time. A young Chief Justice Chandrachud wrote “4 GM” on the docket and got the fee of Rs 60.
This trend was prevalent in the Bombay High Court till 25 years ago, sources said. The price of one GM in the Calcutta High Court was Rs 16.
The Supreme Court on Monday reserved judgment on a batch of petitions challenging the enrolment fee charged by bar councils in different states as exorbitant. The Bench also included Justice JB Pardiwala.
During the hearing, the Bench questioned whether bar councils can charge a fee higher than the amount mentioned in the Advocates Act, 1961 which says Rs 600 for state bar councils and Rs 150 for the Bar Council of India.
The Bench noted there was no uniformity in the fees charged by state bar councils. In some states such as Kerala, Maharashtra, and Delhi, it is in the range of Rs 15,000, while in others like Odisha it is Rs 41,000.
The bench observed that the legal question was whether the bar councils can charge a sum higher than what is mentioned in the law.
“It is for parliament to increase the enrolment fee. It is a valid point you raised on the various expenses to run the state bar councils. But the law is very clear. You cannot charge more than Rs 600,” Chief Justice Chandrachud said.
In July 2023, the Supreme Court had transferred to itself petitions pending in high courts on this issue.
Last year, the Kerala High Court directed the Bar Council of Kerala to collect only Rs 750 as enrolment fee from law graduates wishing to enrol, till the Bar Council of India considers a uniform fee structure.
