Ad Valorem Court Fee Not Applicable In Family Court Petitions For Maintenance, Property Disputes: Punjab & Haryana HC
The Punjab and Haryana High Court observed that the proceedings initiated before the Family Court for maintenance, even when coupled with additional reliefs such as creating a charge over properties, declaring certain transfer deeds null and void, and seeking permanent injunction, are considered petitions and not suits.
Therefore, ad valorem court fee is not applicable in such cases, the court held.
In this case, the petitioners filed a suit before the Family Court seeking maintenance under Sections 18 and 20 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, along with other reliefs such as creating a charge over properties, declaring certain transfer deeds null and void, and seeking permanent injunction. The Family Court had directed the petitioners to pay ad valorem court fee for the suit, which the petitioners contested.
Justice Gurbir Singh observed, “The dispute regarding properties of the parties to the marriage are to be dealt by the Family Court and not by the regular civil court. Jurisdiction of regular civil court is barred in such matters. Moreover, creating charge over the property is to ensure recovery of maintenance which may be granted in a suit and if a person transfers the property in order to defeat the right of wife and children for maintenance, such suit can be tried by the Family Court and not by separate suit. The petitioners-plaintiffs are not liable to pay ad valorem court fee.”
Advocate Akash Soni appeared for the Petitioners and Advocate Archana Sharma appeared for the Respondents.
The petitioners argued that their suit did not fall under the category of a regular suit, and therefore, they were not liable to pay ad valorem court fee. They contended that the proceedings before the Family Court for maintenance were in the form of a petition and not a suit.
The High Court referred to a previous judgment. The Court said, “The Division Bench of this Court in Balwinder Singh Versus Sinderpal Kaur and another, 2019(4) R.C.R. (Civil) 720 has held that the proceedings initiated before the Family Court for the purpose of maintenance are petition in nature and not suit and ad valorem court fee is not liable to be paid.”. The Court further said that court fee payable for such petitions was not ad valorem but governed by fixed fees as per the relevant court fee schedule.
The Court rejected the respondents' arguments that the case involved matters beyond maintenance, such as creating a charge over properties, and held that the Family Court had jurisdiction to deal with these issues. Therefore, the impugned orders of the Family Court directing the petitioners to pay ad valorem court fee were set aside.
The petition was allowed, and the petitioners were not required to pay ad valorem court fee on their suit before the Family Court.
Cause Title: Sucheta Garg & Ors. v. Vineet Garg & Ors., [2023:PHHC:137022]
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