Time Period For Court Fee and Question of Limitation:
Most of the cases require the litigants to deposit court fee before for filling a suit or writ etc. The Court Fee varies from cases to case, but it is mandatory to deposit it when the law says so. The courts should usually order to deposit the court fee on the first day, but section 149 of the CPC gives some relaxation to the parties and discretion to the courts to grant more time to the parties to deposit the fee at a later stage. This is a procedural provision of the CPC.
The Supreme Court has recently decided a case, Civil Petition No.609 of 2020, in this background and has held that once the court permits a party or grant that party some time to deposit court fee, limitation stops to run. Question of limitation does not arise in such a situation. When the same is paid, it will be considered as if it were paid on the first day. The was hearing the said case against a judgment of a High Court wherein the HC had dismissed the case of the Petitioner as being time bared due not depositing the court fee.
The Court has held that this is a procedural provision and it is settled law that procedure is not meant to thwart or halt the justice. It is only meant to run the legal proceedings smoothly and with certainty. The courts are bound to impart substantial justice to the society and is a procedural provision comes in the way of justice, it should be interpreted and exercised as such which can help in imparting justice not in thwarting the same.
c.p._609_2020
