A court fee rationalization committee, formed by Madras high court, has suggested slashing of civil court fee from the existing 7.5 per cent, which is the highest in the country, to anywhere between two per cent and three per cent without upper limit.
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.
Tasked by the first bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Satyanarayana on December 18, 2015 "to suggest rationalisation of the court fees structure," the committee has suggested sea-change in both quantum and mode of payment of court fees in Tamil Nadu.
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.
It then recommended ad valorem court fees for plaints at a rate between two per cent and three per cent of the value of the subject matter in dispute uniformly in the high court and subordinate courts.
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.
The committee, which submitted its recommendations recently before the first bench, also recommended court fees of Rs 10 on 'vakalats' or memoranda of appearance uniformly across courts and authorities.
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