BCI draft bill hikes advocate enrolment fee, overhauls legal education

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(AI Image) NEW DELHI: The Bar Council of India (BCI) has proposed increasing the statutory enrolment fee for aspiring advocates from Rs 750 to Rs 22,500 under the Draft Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which has been released for public consultation. The proposal also outlines a series of reforms covering legal education, advocate training, institutional oversight and professional development.Under the draft, Section 24 of the Advocates Act, 1961 would be amended to revise the enrolment fee to Rs 18,000 payable to the concerned State Bar Council and Rs 4,500 to the Bar Council of India. The BCI has invited suggestions from stakeholders, including State Bar Councils, bar associations, law universities, centres of legal education and law firms, until 3 pm on July 31, 2026.Proposed fee revision and concessionsAccording to the draft, the revised fee has been proposed following Supreme Court judgments in Gaurav Kumar v Union of India and Pankaj Sinha v Bar Council of India. The BCI noted that the existing statutory enrolment fee has remained unchanged since 1993 despite expanded institutional responsibilities linked to advocate enrolment.The explanatory note states that the revised fee would support verification of educational qualifications and identity, maintenance of physical and digital enrolment records, issuance of enrolment certificates, advocate welfare measures including insurance and mediclaim, professional development programmes, establishment of a National Legal Academy and other institutional services.The draft also proposes that candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and persons with benchmark disabilities will be required to pay only one-fourth of the prescribed enrolment fee.Direct link to check and download the Draft Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2026Wider legal education reforms proposedThe draft Bill seeks to empower the BCI to conduct entrance examinations for admission to law degree programmes, prescribe minimum admission qualifications, frame rules for the All India Bar Examination, and recognise legal education institutions as well as foreign law qualifications.It also proposes expanding the Legal Education Committee from 10 members to 25 members. The reconstituted body would include representatives from the judiciary, government, universities, legal academia and the legal profession.Focus on continuing legal educationThe draft proposes making continuing legal education a statutory function of both the BCI and State Bar Councils. Professional development programmes may include constitutional law, corporate and commercial law, arbitration, artificial intelligence, cyber law, taxation, insolvency, international legal practice, and trial and appellate advocacy.The BCI said these programmes are intended to strengthen advocates' professional capabilities and expand learning opportunities without creating unnecessary burdens on practitioners.(Witn inputs from Bar and Bench) Get the latest Education News and Live updates. 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