'Can fee of needy aspiring lawyers writing All India Bar Exam be waived?': SC asks BCI

The Supreme Court has sought to know from the Bar Council of India (BCI) if there’s any scheme to waive off fees of poor law graduates appearing for the All India Bar Examination (AIBE) to get enrolled as lawyers.

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The AIBE application fee is Rs 3,500 for general and OBC candidates and Rs 2,500 for the scheduled caste and tribe candidates. The amount is non-refundable and must be paid online.

While hearing a plea filed by Kuldeep Mishra challenging the fee levied by the BCI for taking up AIBE for enrolling fresh law graduates as lawyers, a Bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and Atul S Chandurkar also disapproved of the "phenomenally high” fees levied by the National Law Universities (NLUs) for their LLB courses and said the education system needed strengthening.

The fees charged by NLUs for five-year LLB courses usually range from Rs 1.7 lakh to Rs 4 lakh per annum. Top NLUs like NLSIU-Bangalore and NLU-Delhi have higher fees compared to newer ones.

“You cannot have a system which does not have any provision for the poor candidates. You must have a provision to exempt fees to the needy people and this process should not be complicated,” the Bench told the BCI counsel and asked him to come prepared on this aspect after two weeks.

Regarding the fee levied by NLUs, it said, “The fees of NLUs have gone phenomenally high. We need to strengthen our education system. People take loans for taking up LLB courses and the fees are on the higher side,” Justice Narasimha said.