SYNOPSIS:

1.Courts Power to Ascertain net profits or market-value.

2. Procedure where net profits or market-value wrongly estimated........Effect on Suit

3.Procedure in suits for mesne profits or account when amount decreed exceeds amount claimed.

4.Decision of question as to valuation..........Who will raise question as to valuation and at what stage to be raised and decision .

It is duty of Court not only to determine court fee but also fix a date within which deficiency is to be made ou.(1993SCMR1113)

It is duty of litigant to pay court fee at the time of presentation of plaint.(2005 CLC197)

Define Mense Profit.

The Code defines mesne profits of property as those profits which the person in wrongful possession of such property actually received or might, with ordinary diligence, have received there from, together with interest thereon, but not profits resulting from Improvements made by the person in wrongful possession. [S. 2 (12)].CPC

8.   Fee on memorandum of appeal against order relating to compensation.– The amount of fee payable under this Act on a memorandum of appeal against an order relating to compensation under any Act for the time being in force for the acquisition of land for public purposes shall be computed according to the difference between the amount awarded and the amount claimed by the appellant.

9.   Power to ascertain net profits or market-value.– If the Court sees reason to think that the annual net profits or the market-value of any such land, house or garden as is mentioned in section 7, paragraphs (v) and (vi), have or has been wrongly estimated, the Court may, for the purpose of computing the fee payable in any suit therein mentioned, issue a commission to any proper person directing him to make such local or other investigation as may be necessary, and to report thereon to the Court.

10.   Procedure where net profits or market-value wrongly estimated.–

          (i)  If in the result of any such investigation the Court finds that the net profits or market-value have or has been wrongly estimated, the Court, if the estimation has been excessive, may in its discretion refund the excess paid as such fee: but, if the estimation has been insufficient, the Court shall require the plaintiff to pay so much additional fee as would have been payable had the said market-value or net profits been rightly estimated.

          (ii)  In such case the suit shall be stayed until the additional fee is paid. If the additional fee is not paid within such time as the Court shall fix, the suit shall be dismissed.

11.   Procedure in suits for mesne profits or account when amount decreed exceeds amount claimed.[(1)] In suits for mesne profits or for immovable property and mesne profits, or for an account, if the profits or amount decreed are or is in excess of the profits claimed or the amount at which the plaintiff valued the relief sought, the decree shall not be executed until the difference between the fee actually paid and the fee which would have been payable had the suit comprised the whole of the profits or amount so decreed shall have been paid to the proper officer.

      Where the amount of mesne profits is left to be ascertained in the course of the execution of the decree, if the profits so ascertained exceed the profits claimed, the further execution of the decree shall be stayed until the difference between the fee actually paid and the fee which would have been payable had the suit comprised the whole of the profits so ascertained is paid. If the additional fee is not paid within such time as the Court shall fix, the suit shall be dismissed.

  [(2) Refund where amount decreed is less than amount claimed.– Where in any such suit as is referred to in sub-section (1) the Court-fee paid is found to be in excess of the amount of fee which would be payable if the suit had been valued at the amount decreed, the decree-holder shall be entitled to the refund of the excess of Court-fee paid by him].

12.   Decision of question as to valuation.– (i) Every question relating to valuation for the purpose of determining the amount of any fee chargeable under this chapter on a plaint or memorandum of appeal shall be decided by the Court in which such plaint or memorandum, as the case may be, is filed, and such decision shall be final as between the parties to the suit.

      (ii)  But whenever any such suit comes before a Court of appeal, reference or revision, if such Court considers that the said question has been wrongly decided to the detriment of the revenue, it shall require the party by whom such fee has been paid to pay so much additional fee as would have been payable had the question been rightly decided, and the provisions of section 10, paragraph (ii), shall apply.

17.   Multifarious suits.– Where a suit embraces two or more distinct subjects, the plaint or memorandum of appeal shall be chargeable with the aggregate amount of the fees to which the plaints or memoranda of appeal in suits embracing separately each of such subjects would be liable under this Act.

        Nothing in the former part of this section shall be deemed to affect the power conferred by the Code of Civil Procedure, section 9.

19.   Exemption of certain documents.– Nothing contained in this Act shall render the following documents chargeable with any fee:-

            (i)  Power-of-attorney to institute or defend a suit when executed by an officer, warrant-officer, non-commissioned officer or private of [the Pakistan Army] not in civil employment.

           (ii)  [Rep. by the Amending Act, 1891 (XII of 1891)].

          (iii)  Written statements called for by the Court after the first hearing of a suit.

          (iv)  [Rep. by the Cantonments Act, 1889 (XIII of 1889)].

           (v)  [Rep. by A.O., 1949, Sch].

          (vi)  [Rep. ibid.].

         (vii)  [Rep. ibid.].

         (viii)  Probate of a will, letters of administration,[and, save as regards debts and securities, a certificate under Bombay Regulation VIII of 1827], where the amount or value of property in respect of which the probate or letters or certificate shall be granted does not exceed one thousand rupees.

          (ix)  Application or petition to a Collector or other officer making a settlement of land-revenue, or to a Board of Revenue, or a Commissioner of Revenue, relating to matters connected with the assessment of land or the ascertainment of rights thereto or interests therein, if presented previous to the final confirmation of such settlement.

           (x)  Application relating to a supply for irrigation of water belonging to Government.

          (xi)  Application for leave to extend cultivation, or to relinquish land, when presented to an officer of land-revenue by a person holding, under direct engagement with Government, land of which the revenue is settled, but not permanently.

         (xii)  Application for service of notice of relinquishment of land or of enhancement of rent.

         (xiii)  Written authority to an agent to distrain.

        (xiv)  First application (other than a petition containing criminal charge or information) for the summons of a witness or other person to attend either to give evidence or to produce a document or in respect of the production or filing of an exhibit not being an affidavit made for the immediate purpose of being produced in Court.

         (xv)  Bail-bonds in criminal cases, recognizances to prosecute or give evidence, and recognizances for personal appearance or otherwise.

        (xvi)  [Omitted by A.O., 1949, Sch].

        (xvii)  Petition by a prisoner, or other person in duress or under restraint of any Court or its officers.

       (xviii)  Complaint of a public servant (as defined in the Pakistan Penal Code), a municipal officer, or an officer or servant of a Railway Company.

        (xix)  Application for permission to cut timber in Government forests, or, otherwise relating to such forests.

         (xx)  Application for the payment of money due by government to the applicant.

        (xxi)  Petition of appeal against the chaukidari assessment under Act No. XX of 1856, or against any municipal tax.

        (xxii)  Application for compensation under any law for the time being in force relating to the acquisition of property for public purposes.

       (xxiii)  [Omitted by A.O., 1949, Schedule].

       (xxiv) [Petition under the Christian Marriage Act, 1872, (XV of 1872), sections 45 and 46].