In CR No. 2606 of 2021(O&M)- PUNJ HC- In case of agricultural land, court fee is payable on basis of 10 times of revenue and not on value of property or sale deed, says P&H HC in view of amendment made by State of Haryana in Section 7(IV) of the Court Fees Act, 1870 Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan [26-07-2022]

Read Order: Ramniwas v. Ishwar Singh and others

Monika Rahar

Chandigarh, July 29, 2022:  Recently, the High Court of Punjab and Haryana has held that in view of the amendment made by the State of Haryana in Section 7(IV) of the Court Fees Act, 1870, in case of agricultural land, the court fee is payable on the basis of 10 times the revenue payable and not on the value of the property or the sale deed of the suit property.

Essentially, the petitioner filed a suit for declaration to the effect that the suit land (an agricultural land) was a coparcenary property of his father’s family (the second defendant) in which the petitioner/ plaintiff, being the son had a pre-existing legal right to the extent of 1/5th share by birth and the sale deed of October 2020, executed by his father being Karta of the family was liable to be set aside for being without any legal necessity. 

It was further the petitioner’s grievance that even though he had a birth right over the suit land, his consent was not taken. It was also prayed that mutation sanctioned on the basis of said sale deed be also set aside and a decree of permanent injunction be granted restraining the defendants from creating any encumbrance or alienating the suit property in any manner.

The respondents/defendants appeared before the trial Court and filed the aforesaid application under Order 7 Rule 11 read with Section 151 CPC praying that the plaintiff did not affix the ad-valorem court fee and, therefore, the plaint was liable to be rejected. The application was allowed by the Trial Court. 

It was the case of the Counsel for the plaintiff that since the challenge was to the alienation made by the Karta of the joint Hindu family, the petitioner being coparcener and in possession of the property was not liable to pay the ad-valorem court fee on the market value, therefore, assessing the value of the property, the petitioner/plaintiff already affixed a court fee of Rs. 200/- and also affixed Rs. 50/- regarding relief of declaration and injunction. 

After hearing the counsel for the parties, considering the fact that in view of the amendment made by the State of Haryana in Section 7(IV) of the Court Fee Act, 1870, the Bench of Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan opined that in case of agricultural land, the court fee is payable on the basis of 10 time of the revenue payable and not on the value of the property or the sale deed of the suit property.

Further, the Bench was of the view that the disputed land was an agricultural land and the petitioner/plaintiff was not the executant of the same and also, considering the fact that the plaintiff set up a case that he was in possession of the property and he also did not make any prayer for grant of decree of possession, this revision petition was allowed.

Accordingly, the impugned order was set aside and the petitioner was directed to pay the court fee as per amended Section 7(IV) of the Court Fee Act regarding agricultural land i.e. Fee, payable on the basis of 10 times of the revenue payable and not on the value of the property or the sale deed.