Court fee revision done on a rational basis: Govt to Kerala high court
Kochi: The state govt has informed the high court that the revision of court fees was carried out on a rational basis by a competent legislature after conducting thorough research and analysis on the subject.
Law secretary K G Sanal Kumar made this submission through a counter affidavit filed in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) initiated by the Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA), which challenges the steep hike in court fees and the imposition of ad valorem fees without any upper limit, introduced through the Kerala Finance Act, 2025.
The affidavit further stated that the revision was based on a study conducted by an expert committee comprising a retired HC judge, govt secretaries and a member of the legal fraternity, appointed by the govt.
The committee recommended revising the fixed court fees only after examining the depreciation in the value of the rupee, using various indices such as the consumer price index (CPI) for industrial workers (IW), the exchange rate of the Indian Rupee against the US Dollar, the average wage of non-agricultural workers in Kerala, and the change in gold prices over the years.
The last revision of court fees was in 2003, and no comprehensive revision has taken place in the past 20 years. The affidavit also asserted that the state has the exclusive power to legislate on the subject of 'fees taken in all courts except the Supreme Court,' as per Entry 3 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The Court will consider the petition on June 4.
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