The Madhya Pradesh High Court recently comprising of a bench of Justice D.D. Bansal ruled that a litigant is entitled to a refund of court fees if the subject matter of the case has been settled by the parties outside of Court, even without the use of Section 89 CPC. (Dayaram v Smt Laxmi Agrawal)
Facts of the case
The counsel for the parties submitted that after execution of impugned decree, parties have settled their dispute outside the Court and in pursuance of which, the appellant/defendant wants to withdraw his first appeal. In such circumstances, he prayed that the court fee of Rs.52,750/- paid by him in the first appeal be refunded to the appellant, regarding which the respondent has no objection.
Issue before the Court
Whether this Court, in the aforesaid circumstances, can pass order for refund of court fees as provided under Section 16 of the Court Fees Act, 1870.
Section 16 of the Court Fees Act, 1870 states as under :- "16. Refund of fee - Where the court refers the parties to the suit to any one of the mode of settlement of dispute referred to in Section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 the plaintiff shall be entitled to a certificate from the court authorising him to receive back from the collector, the full amount of the fee paid in respect of such plaint."
Courts Observation and order
The bench at the very outset observed that in the case of Pradeep Sonawat VERSUS. Satish prakash 2015(2) Civil Court Cases 52 the Punjab and Haryana High Court held as under :
"16. Going a step further, it is felt that whether the compromise is with the persuasion of the Court or amongst the parties by themselves in terms of Section 89 CPC or otherwise, invocation of provision of Section 16 of the Act should be made in all cases so that settlements by way of alternative dispute resolution mechanism are encouraged.
17. Keeping in view the totality of the facts, merely because the matter has not been settled in Lok Adalat, as has been observed by the lower Court while dismissing the application of the plaintiff-petitioner, invocation to Section 16 of the Act should not have been refused."
The bench taking note of the same remarked, "In view of the aforesaid, I am of the considered opinion that even if the matter is settled by the parties outside the Court without invoking the provisions of section 89 CPC, the appellant while withdrawing his first appeal, is entitled to the refund of full Court fees as provided under section 16 of the Court Fees Act, 1870.
In view of the aforesaid discussion, Registry of this Court is directed to issue certificate regarding refund of Court fees of Rs.52,750/- authorising the appellant-Dayaram to receive back the full amount of the court fee paid in respect of first appeal, from the Collector."
With the aforesaid observation, the appeal was disposed of.
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