HYDERABAD: The government alone is vested with the power to grant reduction or remission of court fees and the power of the court is limited to the extent of granting the facility of postponement of the payment. As per the Andhra Pradesh Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1956 and the provisions of Order XXXIII of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), 1908, there is a distinction between the power of the state government and the power of the court with regard to payment of court fees.
In a case before the Hyderabad High Court, the petitioner, whose factory was gutted in a fire, had first filed a complaint before the consumer forum when the insurance company concerned rejected his claim that it was an accident and that there was insurance cover. While dismissing his complaint against the insurer, the forum granted liberty to him to seek remedies before a normal civil court.While filing a civil suit before the district court, he moved an application before Mandal Legal Services Authority seeking issue of a court fee exemption certificate (to enable him to file a suit against the insurance company) on the ground that his income was below
Rs 1 lakh per annum and that he was an agriculturist. The Mandal Legal Services Authority dismissed his application on the ground that he failed to produce his individual income tax returns and that the other documents filed by him did not inspire the confidence of the authority. Aggrieved, he filed an appeal before the District Legal Services Authority but it was also dismissed, forcing him to file a petition before the High Court challenging the order of the District Legal Services Authority which confirmed the order of Mandal Legal Services Authority refusing to grant court fee exemption certificate to him.
A division bench of the High Court, comprising justices V Ramasubramanian and M Ganga Rao, found that there was no mention in the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 about any exemption from payment of court fees. Without understanding the scope and effect of the notification issued by the state government in 2007, the District Legal Services Authority was issuing certificates of exemption in terms of 1980 Rules (Andhra Pradesh State Legal Aid and Advice to the Poor Rules, 1980), the bench pointed out.
Under the Court Fees Act, the state government has the power to reduce or remit fees in respect of the whole or part of a territory or in respect of the fees chargeable under the Act; and that under the CPC the court is empowered just to allow a person to sue as an indigent person, resulting merely in postponement of the payment of court fee but not the reduction or remission of the court fees. The central and state governments are also empowered under Order XXXIII Rule 18(1) of the Code to make supplementary provisions for providing free legal services to those who have been permitted to sue indigent persons.
The bench made it clear that legal services institutions such as the Mandal/District/State Legal Services Authorities had no power or authority to issue a certificate of exemption from payment of court fees. Therefore, all that could be done by a person is to approach the legal services authority concerned and seek the provision of legal services. The petitioner, if he satisfies the required criteria, could have sought only the payment of court fees and not a certificate of exemption from payment of court fees, the bench said .