S.S. DURAI PANDIAN Vs. S.S. PANDIAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE above matter has been posted before us for deciding the issue as to whether the court fee paid on the Memorandum of Appeal in this case by the appellant is proper or not?

(2.) MR . M. Devendran, learned counsel for the appellant submitted that originally the suit was filed on the Original Side of this Court on 15.12.2006 and was numbered as C.S.No.557 of 2007. Thereafter, because of the enlargement of the pecuniary jurisdiction of the City Civil Court, Chennai the suit was transferred to the City Civil Court and later, transferred to the Additional District and Sessions Court/Fast Track Court at Chennai and it was renumbered as O.S.No.9953 of 2010. He further submitted that the Government has issued a Government Order, under which in respect of the suits transferred from the Original Side of the High Court to the City Civil Court the plaintiff need not pay ad -valorem court fee, but the Court fee already paid before the High Court is sufficient; now the suit has been disposed of, by the judgment dated 10.05.2007 and being aggrieved by that, the above appeal has been filed.

(3.) ACCORDING to the learned counsel for the appellants, under Section 52 of the Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1955 (hereinafter will be referred to as the Act) the fee payable in an appeal shall be the same as the fee that would be payable in the court of first instance on the subject -matter of the appeal. According to the learned counsel, the Court of first instance in this case in the High Court; because the suit was originally filed on the Original Side of this court and it cannot be said that the City Civil Court is the Court of first instance and therefore, according to the learned counsel, under Section 52 of the Act, the Court fee that was paid in the plaint before this Court is the fee that is payable on the Memorandum of Grounds of appeal.