Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur
Mool Singh vs Abdul Jabbar on 28 November, 2011
Author: Gopal Krishan Vyas
Bench: Gopal Krishan Vyas
1
S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.11356/2011.
(Mool Singh Vs. Abdul Jabbar)
DATE OF ORDER : November 28, 2011.
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE GOPAL KRISHAN VYAS
Mr. S.S. Rathore for the petitioner.
BY THE COURT :
In this writ petition filed under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitition of India, the petitioner has prayed for quashing order dated 15.11.2010 passed by the Addl. District Judge No.2, Jodhpur whereby the application filed by the petitioner for returning the court-fee upon compromise was rejected.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that an amendment was made in the Rajastha Court Fee & Suits Valuation Act, 1961 and new Section 65B was added whereby it is provided that in the event of settlement of dispute under Section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 2008, the plaintiff shall be entitled to a certificate from the Court authorizing him to receive back from the Collector (Stamps) the full amount of court-fee paid in respect of such suit; but, in this case, although the matter was not referred under Section 89, C.P.C. but the fact remains that the matter was settled as per spirit of compromise and suit 2 was withdrawn by the petitioner-plaintiff, therefore, obviously the application filed by the petitioner-plaintiff for issuing the certificate to receive back from the Collector (Stamps) the amount of fee paid in respect of the suit but the trial Court rejected the application of the petitioner on hyper-technical ground, therefore, the order impugned may be quashed and trial Court may be directed to issue certificate authorizing the petitioner-plaintiff to receive back from the Collector (Stamps) full amount of the fee paid by him in respect of the plaint.
In support of his contention, learned counsel for the petitioner invited my attention towards judgment rendered by this Court in S.B. Civil First Appeal No.452/2009, Arvind Deval Vs. Mool Singh Deval and submits that in the similar circumstances the co-ordinate Bench of this Court passed order for issuing the certificate for the aforesaid purpose.
After hearing learned counsel for the petitioner, I have perused Section 65B of the Rajasthan Court Fee & Suits Valuation Act, 1961 which reads as under :
"65-B. Refund of Fee.-Where the Court refers the parties to a suit to any one of the mode of settlement of dispute referred to in Sec.89 of the code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act No.5 of 1908) and the matter is settled by one of the modes provided under Sec.89 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the plaintiff shall be entitled to a certificate from the Court authorising him to receive back 3 from the Collector, the full amount of the fee paid in respect of such plaint."
The provision of above section was taken into consideration by the co-ordinate Bench of this Court in the case of Arvind Deval (supra) and after considering the provisions of the aforesaid section, passed the following order :
"4. It is true that Section 65-B ibid provides for refund of the Court Fee where the dispute between the parties to the suit is settled by one of the modes provided under Section 89 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908, but then, the said provision has been incorporated so as to encourage the amicable settlement between the parties out of the Court. Therefore, keeping in view, the spirit of Section 65-B ibid, in considered opinion of this Court, in the matters where the dispute is settled between the parties amicably without intervention of the Court also the full amount of court fee paid deserves to be refunded to the appellant.
5. Accordingly, the applications are allowed. The appeal is dismissed as withdrawn. A certificate may be issued to the appellant authorising him to receive back from the Collector (Stamp), the full amount of fee paid in respect of the present appeal i.e. Rs.22,104/-."
In my opinion, when the Legislature is, time and again, making amendment for the purpose of finalization of litigations and, in this regard, amendment is also made in the Act of 1961 while inserting Section 65-B, then, obviously the trial Courts shall not refuse to return the 4 court fee , in the event of withdrawal of the suits after compromise and settlement of the issue finally.
In this view of the matter, this writ petition is allowed. Order impugned dated 25.11.2010 is hereby quashed and set aside. Learned Addl. District Judge No.2, Jodhpur is directed to issue certificate authorizing the petitioner-plaintiff to receive back from the Collector (Stamps) the full amount of court fee paid in respect of Suit No.116/08, in which, the matter has been finally decided after compromise.
(Gopal Krishan Vyas) J.
Ojha, a.