Full Judgment
K. Padmanabhan Nair, J.
1. The plaintiff in O.S. No. 653/2005 on the file of Munsiff Court, Ernakulam is the petitioner in this Writ Petition. The petitioner filed the suit for declaration and for fixation of boundary. Plaintiff claimed ownership over B schedule property. Plaint C schedule property is described as part of plaint B schedule property. The defendant is the owner of the property adjoining A schedule property. It was alleged that he attempted to tresspass into the plaint C schedule property. Plaintiff valued the subject matter of the suit as Rs. 16,000/- and calculated the Court fee payable as Rs. 680/-. At the time of institution of suit, he paid an amount of Rs. 68/- as Court fee. There was dispute regarding the valuation of the subject matter of this suit.
2. On 11.11.2005, the Court below heard the issue regarding valuation. The plaintiff filed I.A. 10081/2005 under Order VI Rule 17 of Civil Procedure Code seeking to amend the valuation showing the total value of the subject matter of the suit as Rs. 47033.50 and admitted that the court fee payable is Rs. 320/-. The first prayer in the suit was valued under Section 25(b) of the Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act ('Court Fees Act' for short) and half of the market value was shown as Rs. 8,000/-. An amount of Rs. 320/- was levied as the Court Fee payable on the first relief. For the 2nd relief, the market value of the entire property was shown as Rs. 39,033.50 for the purpose of Court fee.
The 2nd prayer in the suit was valued as per the provision of Section 50(ii) of the Court Fees Act and a fixed Court fee of Rs. 50/- was levied. The total court fee payable was fixed as Rs. 370/- (320+50). It was avered that since Rs. 68/- was already paid at the time of institution of the suit she was liable to pay only Rs. 302/-. The Court below considered the matter and held that the provision of law quoted was wrong and dismissed the application for amendment. The Court below directed the plaintiff to take steps to amend the valuation in accordance with Section 50(iii) of Kerala Court Fees Act and pay the balance court fee. Challenging that order the plaintiff has filed this Writ Petition.
3. The learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner has argued that quoting of a wrong provision of law is immaterial. It is argued that a mere look into the petition will show that it was only a typographical error.
4. The learned Munsiff was carried away by the fact that the value of the subject matter for the 2nd relief was shown as Rs. 39,033/-. The court below failed to note that the suit was filed before the Court of Munsiff. Section 50 of the Court Fees Act deals with the suits filed before the revenue Court, Munsiff Court and Subordinate Judge's Court, A reading of Section 50 of the Court Fees Act shows that irrespective of the value of the subject matter if the suit is filed before the Munsiff's Court the plaintiff need only to pay a fixed Court fee of Rs. 50/- under Section 50(ii) of the Act. If the value of the subject matter as a whole is less than rupees one lakh the suit can be filed before the Munsiff's Court even if the value of the subject matter for the relief falling under Section 50(ii) is more than Rs. 25,000/-. The provision in Section 50(iii) is applicable only if the suit is filed before the Sub Court. Section 50 reads as follows:
50. Suits not otherwise provided for:-- In suits not otherwise provided for, fee shall be payable at the following rates:((i) In a Revenue Court : Rupees twenty-five(ii) In a Munsiff's Court : Rupees fifty(iii) In a Sub-Court or a : Rupees two hundred if the value of theDistrict Court subject matter is Rs. 25,000/- or less; andrupees four hundred if the value of thesubject matter is above Rs. 25,000/-)
5. It is to be noted that Section 50 was amended with effect from 5.12.1990 by Act 6 of 1991. Prior to the amendment the Court fees payable for such a relief in a suit filed before the Munsiff Court under Section 50(n) was Rs. 30/-. In the Sub Court or District Court the court fee payable was Rs. 100/- if the value of the subject matter was Rs. 10,000/- or less and Rs. 200/- is the value above Rs. 10,000/-. Originally the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Munsiff Court was Rs. 5,000/- for suits and other proceedings. All suits and proceedings value of which exceed Rs. 5,000/- were to be filed before the Subordinate Judges Court. But appeals from the decree passed by the Sub Court value of which does not exceed Rs. 10,000/- were to be filed before the District Court. If the value of the subject matter exceeded Rs. 10,000/- appeal would lie to the High Court. The pecuniary jurisdiction of the Munsiff Court and District Court was amended with effect from 30.11.1986 by Act 33 of 1986. The pecuniary jurisdiction of the Munsiff Court was enhanced to Rs. 15,000/-. The appeals from decrees passed by Subordinate Judge's Court, the value of the subject matter of which does not exceed Rs. 25,000/- would be to the District Court. If the value of the subject matter exceeded Rs. 25,000/- the appeals would lie to the High Court. Section 11 and 13 of the Civil Courts Act were again amended with effect from 27-3-1996 by Civil Courts (Amendment) Act of 1996. In Section 11 the word Rs. 15,000/- were substituted by the words Rs. 1 lakh and in Sub-section (1) of Section 13 the words Rs. 25,000/- were substituted with Rs. 2 lakhs. But no corresponding amendments were effected in Section 50. So there is an anomally in the levy of Court fee regarding the relief under Section 50 if value exceeds Rs. 25,000/-. Even if the value of the subject matter filed in the Munsiff Court exceeds Rs. 25,000/-, the plaintiff need only a fixed Court fee of Rs. 50/- under Section 50(ii) of the Court fees Act. But if the total value of the subject matter exceeds Rs. 1 lakh the suit has to be filed before the Subordinate Judge's Court. In such a suit if the value of the subject matter falling under Section 50 exceeds Rs. 25,000/- the Court fee is leviable under Section 50(iii) of the Court Fees Act. The Court fee payable is Rs. 200/- if the value of that particular relief is Rs. 25,000/- or less. If the value of that relief exceed Rs. 25,000/- the court fee payable is Rs. 400/-. It is for the legislature to bring suitable amendment in Section 50 of the Court Fees Act. The Court below failed to note that the duty of the Court is to implement the law as it stands. In the case at hand the suit is filed before the Munsiff's Court. So the petitioner need pay only Rs. 50/- for the 2nd relief even though the value of the subject matter for the purpose of that relief is Rs. 39,033.50. The direction issued by the Court below to the plaintiff to amend the plaint and value the subject matter under Section 50 (iii) of the Court Fees Act is without jurisdiction and is liable to be set aside.
In the result, the Writ Petition is allowed. The order passed by the Munsiff in I.A. 10081/2005 in O.S. No. 653/2005 is hereby set aside. The learned Munsiff is directed to take I.A. No. 10081/2005 back to file and dispose of the same afresh in accordance with law after hearing both sides.