GAJALAKSHMI Vs. N. NAGARAJA REDDY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The facts of the case are as follows:

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that since the above said respondents were disputing the claim of the petitioner, she had been constrained to file the petition for grant of letters of administration. The second respondent having entered appearance in those proceedings and having strongly resisted the said petition, the court below is said to have clubbed the two suits for partition along with the petition for grant of letters of administration and in view of the petition being a contentious one, the petitioner was called upon to pay court fee in terms of Article 11(l)(ii)(3) of the Karnataka Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1958 (Hereinafter referred to as the 'KCFSV Act', for brevity). The petitioner had disputed the liability to pay court fee under the said provision and had challenged the order in a writ petition before this court in WP 48803/2013. The said petition is said to have been rejected, on the ground that the liability had been correctly imposed by the trial court, in the light of the decision in the case of Anthony Swamy v. Chowramma, 1989 ILR(Kar) 1294, vide order dated 4.6.2014.

(3.) Shri H.N.Shashidara, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would contend that the maximum ad valorem Court fee payable under Article 6 of Schedule I to the KCFSV Act is only Rs.30,000/-, whether the proceedings are contentious or not. Hence, the Court fee payable under Article 11(l)(i) of Schedule II is Rs.25/-, if the proceedings are not contentious and the prescription of payment of "one-half the scale of fee prescribed in Article I of Schedule-I on the market value of the estate less the fee already paid on the application" - being levied, in terms of Article 11(l)(ii)(3) of the said Schedule, if the proceedings are contentious, would have to be read down, in view of the ratio laid down in Saraswathi Devi's case.