Uttaranchal High Court: In a case wherein, petitioner was aggrieved by Resolution No. 20 passed on 15-05-2022 and Resolution No. 21 proposed on 27-11-2021 in the Bar Council of Uttarakhand, whereby the fixed fee for initiating disciplinary cases against the Advocates was increased from Rs 1750 to Rs 5500, the Division Bench of Ritu Bahri*, CJ., and Alok Kumar Verma, J., held that till the decision of Bar Council of India (‘BCI’) was pending on the Resolutions, the complaints against Advocates would be entertained only on the payment of fee of Rs 1750.
Petitioner submitted that as per Part VIII of the Bar Council of India Rules, no fee was more than Rs 200 and Rs 250 till date and thus Resolutions No. 20 and 21 were ultra vires of Section 6(1)(c) of the Advocates Act, 1961.
The Court took note of the letter sent by the Bar Council of India (‘BCI’) to all the State Bar Councils informing about the modification of the Rules, whereby the fee for the purpose of disciplinary action was increased from Rs 450 to Rs 1750 w.e.f. 04-02-2013. The Court also took note of the Resolution dated 27-11-2021 and 14-05-2022, whereby the State Bar Council decided to enhance the fee from Rs 1750 to Rs 5500, and the said letter had been sent to BCI for its approval.
Counsel for respondents stated that since the proposal for enhancement of fee to Rs 5500, for entertainment of complaint, was pending with BCI, the enhanced amount would not be charged from the complainants. It was stated that in future, the Bar Council of Uttarakhand would not charge any complainant beyond Rs 1750, unless the proposal for enhancement of fee was approved by BCI.
The Court held that till BCI’s decision was pending om the Resolutions, the complaints against the Advocates would be entertained only on the payment of fee of Rs 1750.
The Court, regarding the 20 complainants who paid Rs. 5500 towards fee, stated that the Bar Council of Uttarakhand would have to take steps to return the remaining amount to all the 20 complainants after deducting Rs 1750 from Rs 5500.
[Satya Dev Tyagi v. State of Uttarakhand, 2024 SCC OnLine Utt 2845, decided 18-09-2024]
*Judgment authored by: Chief Justice Ritu Bahri
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Petitioner: Kartikey Hari Gupta and Pallavi Bahuguna, Counsels
For the Respondents: Mamta Bisht, Deputy Advocate General; Manoj Kumar, Standing Counsel; Piyush Garg, Sandeep Tiwari, Counsels
