It has also recommended that the guideline value of an immovable property under the Stamp Act, should represent its market value for the purposes of court fees as well.
As for writ petitions and writ appeals, the committee has suggested five-fold hike in fees. For writ petitions (except habeas corpus petitions), it should be enhanced from existing Rs 200 to Rs 1000, it said, adding, court fees payable on writ appeals should be at least Rs 1,000, if not Rs 2,000.
The committee comprised former high court judge, Justice K Sampath (chairman), and advocate Ramakrishnan Viraraghavan, with 'valuable guidance' from senior counsel R Krishnamoorthy.
Pointing out that a civil case would see at least three round of litigations, including two appeals, the committee said at the end of the process the litigant would end up spending more than 30 per cent of the property value towards stamp fee and legal practitioners' fees.
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As in the case of civil suits, the committee recommended levy of just two to three per cent as probate duty subject to a maximum of Rs 25,000.
It said a uniform court fees of Rs 200 is recommended for all civil revision petitions, and a uniform court fees of Rs 100 for civil miscellaneous appeals.
Since awards in many arbitrations run to hundreds of crores of rupees, it recommended that maximum court fees should not exceed Rs one lakh. It, however, did not address court fees on company petitions and insolvency petitions, as the cases are proposed to be shifted to tribunals under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
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