It has been widely recognized that heavy metal removal by activated carbon adsorption is due to the surface complex formation between the metal ions and the acidic surface functional groups. The present study focuses to investigate the possibility of the utilization of activated carbon prepared from groundnut shell as a low cost adsorbent material for the adsorption of heavy metal present in the leachate. Batch experiments were conducted to determine the effect of contact time, pH, adsorbent dosage, speed of agitation, temperature. Experimental data was evaluated to find out kinetic characteristics of the adsorption process. The isothermal data was well described by the Freundlich and D-R adsorption model with a fit (R² = 0.964). The maximum % removal of Nickel ions was observed to be 95% at pH =10 with speed of agitation = 500 rpm and 25ºC temperature.