VASUDEVA VADHYAR Vs. GOVINDA BHATT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question raised in this Civil Revision Petition is whether the defendant in a suit for partition is liable to pay court fee on the value of properties which are claimed by him to be partible. The plaintiff in the court below sued for partition of his share in joint family properties.

(2.) The order of the court below does not show under which provisions of the Court fees Act, II of 1125, the defendants are liable to pay court fee. The only provision in the Act which requires a defendant to pay court fee is Art.(1) of S.1 which provides scale of court fees varying with the value of the subject matter on.

(3.) Civil Courts in the erstwhile States of Travancore and Cochin used to collect court fees from defendants who claimed their share in partition suit. However, in C. P. Raman v. Vavakutty, 34 Cochin LR. 221 a Full Bench of the Cochin High Court pointed out that this practice had no statutory basis.