The enactment of the Court Fees Act, 1870 is intended to provide revenue to the State. It is now ell established that this is a fiscal statute and like other identical legislations its provisions and connotations must be construed in its strict sense.The question of court-fee and any objection in respect of pecuniary jurisdiction should be raised and decided at the earliest opportunity. The Code of Civil Procedure empowers the court to make up deficiency of court fees and under Order VII Rule 11 it is provided that the plaint shall be rejected where the relief claimed is undervalued, and the plaintiff on being required by the court to correct the valuation within a time to be fixed by the Court fails to do so. It has been held, in such cases, where the valuation made by the plaintiff in respect of the suit property is unreasonable and arbitrary, court can exercise its powers vested in it under Order VIII Rule 11 CPC. If the matter requires investigation, the court should record the evidence of the parties bearing on the point and if it finds that the court fee paid is insufficient it should stay further proceedings in the suit and require the plaintiff to make good the same. In general the court fee has to be decided on the basis of the subject-matter of the suit having regard to the averments made in the plaint itself and the appeal arising therefrom while the contentions raised in the written statement or the final decision or merits cannot affect the same.
