RAMAN KUMARAN Vs. KALIKUTTY AMMA KALLIANI AMMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Under S.4 of the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1959 court fee is chargeable on the filing of the document into court, in this case a memorandum of appeal filed on 18-12-1968, after the amending Act, Act 8 of 1966, providing for a higher fee had come into force on 1-10-1966, and, at first blush it would seem alt east so it seemed to me that in demanding the higher fee under the amended Act no retrospective effect was being given to the amending Act merely because some other document, namely, the plaint in the suit, was filed before the amending Act. But the decision of the Supreme Court in AIR 1960 SC 980 under the Court Fees Act, 1870 (the relevant provisions of which are in pari materia with those of the Kerala Act) shows that this view is wrong and that, on the institution of a suit, the right to appeal on the terms and conditions then prevailing vests in the party and cannot be affected by a subsequent legislation unless it is retrospective in character. That, the amending Act admittedly is not, and hence it follows that the court fee paid on the appeal in accordance with the unamended Act is correct.