At the HC
Chennai: Madras high court has held that litigants will not be entitled to full refund of court fees paid in civil suits settled out of court after the commencement of trial. The court also suggested that the Tamil Nadu State Law Commission to consider recommending amendments to the provision of court fee law that provides for such refund.
The earlier version of Section 69-A of the Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, which provided a refund only after a settlement was achieved, could be reconsidered, the court added.
The law did not clearly address whether refunded court fees should be repaid if the ADR process failed, and the matter returned to trial, Justice P B Balaji said. The existing provision allowed parties to receive a full refund upon reference to Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR), even before a settlement was reached.
In the first case, the trial court had granted a refund of 50% of the court fees, after deducting 5% towards administrative charges. The petitioners relied on the Supreme Court’s decision in High Court of Judicature at Madras Vs M C Subramaniam case which recognised the entitlement to a full refund of court fees in cases involving out-of-court settlements under Section 69-A. Refusing to concur, the court observed that Sections 69 and 69-A of the Act dealt with different situations. Section 69 provided for a refund when a suit was settled out of court before evidence was recorded on the merits. Section 69-A dealt with disputes referred to ADR under Section 89 of the CPC. The court noted that the legislature had amended Section 69 in 2017 to provide for a full refund but had retained the requirement that no evidence should have been recorded.
The court made the observations on an applications moved by Susheela Kawar and the legal representatives of S Ranjani. In the second case, the trial court rejected the claim for a refund.