Jangi Pandey vs Saudagar Singh

James, J.—The following, rule regulating the number of stamps to be used for noting fees chargeable under the Court-fees Act has been made by the Local Government u/s 27(b) of the Act:

When in the case of fees amounting to or exceeding Rs. 10 the amount can be denoted by a single impressed stamp, the fee shall be denoted by a single impressed stamp of the required value. But if, the amount cannot be denoted by a single impressed stamp or if a single impressed stamp of the required value is not available, an impressed stamp of the next lower value available shall be used, and the deficiency shall be made up by the use of one or more additional impressed stamps of the next lower values available, which may be required to make up the exact amount of the fee, in combination with adhesive stamps to make up fractions of less than Rs. 10. Any adhesive stamps so used shall be affixed to the impressed stamp of the highest value employed in denoting the fee or to the first sheet of the document to be inscribed in such m inner as not to conceal the value of the stamp thereon.

Provision is made that when a licensed vendor of court-fee stamps is unable to furnish a single stamp of the required value he may give a certificate to that effect which is to be affixed to the document and to be filed with it. These rules have been embodied in the General Rules and Circular Orders of the Patna High Court in Ch. 2, Part 5 of the Rules.

Jangi Pandey presented a plaint before the learned Small Cause Court Judge at Arrah bearing court-fee stamps of the value of Rs. 31-8-0. Under the rules this should have bean made up by a single impressed stamp of Rs. 30 with an adhesive stamp of Re. 1-8-0 in value. The plaint bore adhesive stamps by which the court-fee of Rs. 30, was made up by two stamps one of Rs. 20 and the other of Rs. 10, The learned Small Cause Court Judge relying on the rule required the party to file fresh court-fee stamps of the proper value, consisting of an impressed stamp of Rs. 30 and an adhesive stamp of Rs. 1-8-0 in accordance with the rules. The plaintiff obeyed this order, and he subsequently petitioned for the refund of the value of the court-fee stamps which had been originally filed with the plaint. This petition was rejected by the learned Small Cause Court Judge.

Mr. B.P. Sinha on behalf of the petitioner argues that when the stamps of smaller denominations were filed with a certificate from the stamp vendor the plaint was properly stamped within the meaning of Section 28, Court-fees Act, and the learned Small Cause Court Judge ought to have accepted it. The learned Small Cause Court Judge says that there are many stamp vendors at Arrah and the plaintiff might, if he wished to do so, have obtained a court-fee stamp of the proper value from another vendor when the first vendor was unable to supply it. The plaintiff admitted that he had not asked any other "endor for a stamp of the proper value. I do not consider that in the circumstances it can be said that the learned Small Cause Court Judge did not act correctly in refusing to treat the plaint as a properly, stamped document.

As for the application for refund, the learned Small Cause Court Judge had no power to grant it, and when the stamps had once been attached to the plaint which was part of the judicial record they could not be detached to be returned to the plaintiff. The question of whether a refund ought in the circumstances be allowed by the Collector under Rule 2, which is found at page 260 of the Stamp Manual of 1925 is essentially one for the revenue authorities to determine, and I consider that the learned Small Cause Court Judge should have granted a certificate to the plaintiff stating the facts.

A certificate may now be granted by the learned Small Cause Court Judge, which may be in the form mutatis mutandis which was issued in the case of Harihar Guru v. Ananda Mahapty [1913] 40 Cal 365, which has been treated as a precedent in this Court.

With these remarks the application is dismissed with costs. Hearing-fee one gold mohur.