The Freemen
Dear brethren,
Rising costs of development and infrastructure and modernization requires
increased funds. Modern technology has also made old systems of collection of
court fee obsolete. Telgi stamp paper scam whereby individuals sold fake stamp
papers or use of color copiers to duplicate court fee stamps forced me to write
following letter to Government of Punjab.
“To,
1.
State of Punjab through secretary legal / legislative
affairs
SUB:
Amendment of court fees Act
Dear Sir/madam,
I
I
give herein below an alternative and effective mode of collection of court fee.
Court fee can be collected in the form of postal order or bank draft in name of
Registrar of senior most Judge or court e.g. in Chandigarh amount can be
collected in name of Registrar / District Judge Chandigarh and so on in every
city. Bank accounts can be opened to facilitate payment of court fee.
Authorised officer to operate the bank account should be deputy secretary legal
or above.
Dated September 26
2009 CA KD Aggarwal
Centenary office. (Since 1908)”
In response to above letter
I received following letter from;-
“Government of Punjab,
Department of Revenue and
Rehabilitation
(Stamp and Registration
Branch).
To,
Chief Manager,
State Bank of India,
Sector 17-B,
Chandigarh
Memo No 1/2/09/ST-5/
Chandigarh dated;
Subject ; Amendment of Court
fees Act.
A
copy of letter Dt September 26 2009 received from CA K D Aggarwal, Centenary Office,
is sent herewith. You are requested to send tour coments in this regard at the
earliest.
SD/-
Superintendent Grade 1
Endorsement No
1/2/09/ST-5/8589 Chandigarh Dated November 9 2009, copy is forwarded to CA KD
Aggarwal for Information.
SD/-
Superintendent Grade 1”
…..
Since
State bank of India was ill equipped to take judicial court fees in the forms
of Postal/pay orders/bank drafts etc, I wrote further letter to Government of
Punjab clarifying and detailing the procedure to be adopted.
“To,
1. State of Punjab through Secretary Deptt
of Revenue and Rehabilitation
(Stamp &
Registration branch)
2.
State of Punjab through secretary legal / legislative
affairs
SUB:
Amendment of court fees Act
REF: Your letter No
1/2/09/ST-5 8589 Dt November 9 2009 (copy enclosed)
Dear Sir/madam,
Reference
your letter noted above in response to my letter Dt September 26, 2009.
I did not mean what has been
stated in your letter under reference.
What I meant was;-
1.
Any plaint / application or proceedings in the Judicial court shall be
accompanied by court fee in the form of Postal Order or Bank draft. Particulars
of the case shall be mentioned at the back of such postal order / bank draft.
2.
Court shall receive all plaints / applications alongwith Postal order and Bank
Draft and give receipt Number on such plaint / application etc and enter the
details of postal order/bank draft alongwith particulars of the case in which
they are tendered in register.
3.
At 1 PM and 4 PM, all such postal orders / bank drafts be handed over to
dealing clerk who shall prepare a memo of bank pay in slip and deposit all such
drafts / postal orders in the bank. The superintendent shall tally the totals
with receipt clerk and total with dealing clerk. In this manner if any draft is
returned unpaid by the Bank the case can be immediately dismissed which is
written at the back of such postal order / i.e. the same case which had been
stamped by receipt clerk bearing S No.
4. State
Bank of Patiala has branches at most of the court premises. All banks
accounts are now on line and can be operated from any other branch at any city.
Hence if account is opened at one place, drafts can be deposited in every city
in said 14 digit account. No permission of SBOP is required as for
deposit in one’s bank account, as customer can make any no. of deposits in A/C.
5.
Separate code/account be opened for Judicial and NON Judicial court fee.
Dated November 12, 2009
CA KD Aggarwal
Advocates & Consultants
Centenary office. (Since 1908).”
I
am glad to say the government of Punjab has since accepted my proposal in
principle as reported in “The Tribune Dated October 9, 2010.
"Drafts to replace stamp papers
Stamp papers are to be replaced by drafts, bankers’ cheques and
pay orders, the state of Punjab told the High Court in response to a public
interest litigation for abolishing fraud-prone “stamp paper system”. The
affidavit was filed in by Punjab under secretary Hari Singh Sodhi on a petition
filed by advocate HC Arora. In the affidavit, it was stated: “The department of
Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management has after consultation with the
field revenue officers, agreed in principle to receive the stamp duty through
demand drafts, bankers’ cheques and pay orders. After due approval of the
higher authorities and concurrence by the concerned Departments, this
Department will introduce and implement this system also.”
The affidavit added: “However, that would be done successfully
only after receipt of comments of the High Court authorities in due course
since major part of the collection of Court fees would be in the cases to be
instituted/ adjudicated upon in the High Court and civil/criminal courts under
it.”
Kapil Dev Aggarwal
