Petition seeking reduction of application fee for All India Bar Council Examination (AIBE) conducted by Bar Council of India (BCI) Chennai The High Court dismissed it today. This judgment was announced by a bench comprising Acting Chief Justice R. Mahadevan and Justice GR Swaminathan.
“Unlike the registration fee, there is no statutory provision fixing a specific amount in the examination fee. An injunction can only be granted if the applicant can show that there is a legal right. In this case, no such statutory right has been shown,” the court said, according to Live Law.
The bench added that the court can only interfere if the fee is ‘exorbitant’, which is not the case for the All India Bar Council exam where the application fee is Rs 3,500. “Even if there is no violation of law, if we find the rate of payment excessive, we are justified in interfering with it. But not so.
Only Rs.3,500 is requested from the candidates. It cannot be said that it is much. We see no reason to interfere,” the bench said, according to Live Law.
The petition was filed by Gokul Abhimanyu, an advocate, to reduce the application fee for the All India Bar Council examination.
The current application fee was decided in 2017 when the Bar Council of India raised the application fee to Rs 3,500 for the All India Bar Council examination for general category. Rs.2500 fee for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
