The Delhi High Court on Wednesday not only quashed a notification by the Delhi Government raising court fee, but the Court Fees (Delhi Amendment) Act 2012 as a whole and held that the city Government had "no legislative competence to amend the court fee in such a manner."
In a 531 page order, a division bench of Justice Gita Mittal and Justice JR Midha held, "Court Fees (Delhi Amendment) Act, 2012 adversely impacts the Part-III rights and results in violation of Article 38 and 39-A of the Constitution of India."
While striking down the Court Fees Act 2012 under which the fee was raised ten-fold last year, the court also directed the Government to refund the higher amount collected from the litigants since the amendment.
"The respondent (Delhi Government) would be liable to refund the court fee, which has been recovered from litigants based on the prescriptions contained in the Court Fees (Delhi Amendment) Act, 2012," said the bench while accepting the arguments of Additional Solicitor General AS Chandhiok, who is also Delhi High Court Bar Association's (DHCBA) President, that certain provisions in the new Act are not rational and the same is in violation of the litigants' access to justice.
leaving it to the jurisdiction of the court concerned to give appropriate directions, the court said, "If the parties were required to seek amendment of their respective pleadings on account of refund of the court fees, we direct that the concerned courts may permit appropriate endorsements to be made in the pleadings so as to appropriately clarify the court fee affixed thereon. It is left to the judicial discretion of the court concerned to suo motu mould appropriate directions in this regard." The DHCBA, in its plea, had said the State Government's Act is against the basic values and ideals of the administration of justice in a welfare State.
The Delhi Government had increased the court fees ten-fold to shore up its coffers by around Rs 450 crore annually and said that the court fees in the city were last raised in 1958 by the then Punjab Government, which was extended to Delhi and continued till date in the national Capital.