Suit Valuation And Court-Fee Dispute Must Be Decided On Evidence, Not As A Preliminary Issue: Madras HC

In brief

The question

Whether the dispute concerning the suit property’s valuation and the court fee payable could be decided as a preliminary issue under Section 12(2) of the Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1955.

The court held

The Court disposed of both civil revision petitions, holding that the valuation and court-fee issue was not to be decided as a preliminary issue but could be determined in the suits on the evidence at final disposal.

It also directed

It reiterated the defendants’ liberty to pursue that issue, made no order as to costs, and closed the connected miscellaneous petitions.

01Facts

The first respondent/plaintiff had filed two suits seeking declaration and recovery of possession. The petitioners/defendants disputed the suits’ valuation and court fees and earlier sought appointment of an Advocate Commissioner to assess the suit property’s market value.

p. 4

After that application was dismissed, this Court, in CRP No. 1357 of 2020, observed that the valuation dispute required evidence and could be decided at final disposal. The defendants later raised valuation and court-fee objections in an additional written statement and applied under Section 12(2) of the Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1955, to have the issue tried as a preliminary issue. The trial court dismissed those applications, prompting the present revisions.

pp. 4–5

02Issues

i.Whether the dispute concerning the suit property’s valuation and the court fee payable could be decided as a preliminary issue under Section 12(2) of the Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1955.

pp. 5–6

ii.Whether the defendants could pursue the valuation and court-fee objection in the suits despite the earlier proceedings concerning the same dispute.

p. 4, 6

03Law Applied

Section 12(2) of the Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1955, was invoked in the applications seeking preliminary determination of the court-fee issue.

p. 5

The Court applied the principle stated in its earlier order in CRP No. 1357 of 2020: where the correct market value of the suit property requires evidence, the parties may adduce evidence and the court may decide the valuation issue at final disposal, rather than as a preliminary issue.

p. 4, 6

Provisions in the judgment · 1

Tamil Nadu Court-Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1955 Section 12

04Reasoning

The earlier order had not foreclosed the defendants’ valuation objection; it had expressly left the parties at liberty to adduce evidence and the trial court to decide the issue at final disposal.

p. 4

Since resolving the correct market value required evidence, the trial court was right to decline to try valuation and court fees as a preliminary issue. The defendants could nevertheless pursue the objection as an issue in the suits, to be determined on the evidence adduced by both sides.

p. 6