CHENNAI: The state government has notified the amended Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act thereby revising the existing court fees and stamp duty structure.
Originally, while passing interim orders on a PIL, the first Bench of the Madras High Court comprising Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana had formed the committee under the chairmanship of Justice K Sampath, a retired judge of the High Court, to suggest the rationalisation.
Justice Sampath, who died on December 7 last year, had studied the structure, conducted thorough discussions with the stake-holders, and had addressed the anomalies in the Act. The panel submitted its recommendations to the High Court in September 2016 for the amendment of the Act.
The High Court, in turn, directed the Government to pass the necessary orders on the recommendations of the Sampath panel. Based on the panel's suggestions, the Government made changes in the Act, and eventually passed the Bill in the Assembly on January 30.
Among other things, the committee recommended a uniform reduction in the court fees between 2% and 3% for civil suits. It noted the existing fee of 7.5% of the value of the subject matter made a litigant spend more than 30% of the value of the property.
On the fee payable on writ petitions, it wanted the existing Rs 200 increased to Rs1,000.
It had also recommended an increase in the fee for criminal complaints under Sec 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act to 5% ad valorem, subject to a maximum of Rs10,000, taking into account the time taken by these complaints.
The Sampath committee said its approach was to ensure revenue neutrality. It noted that its recommendations for reducing the ad valorem court fees was expected to reduce court fees collected on plaints and appeals (at current levels of filing) by 86.7% if the court fee was reduced to 1% ad valorem; 73.7% if the court fee was reduced to 2% ad valorem; and 60% if the court fee was reduced to 3% ad valorem. The panel had said the decrease in the rate of court fee was expected to be offset by an increase in fixed court fees payable for writ petitions, writ appeals, or original side appeals, civil miscellaneous appeals, and civil revision petitions.