A suit can be considered as decided solely on admission even after the framing of issues, and the party who paid the court fee on the plaint is entitled to a refund of one half of the court fee in such cases.

1. The defendants in a suit for recovery of money are the petitioners. The respondent is the plaintiff.

2. It is seen from the judgment that the suit was decreed on confession; that is, the suit was decided solely on the admission of the defendants.

3. The petitioners simultaneously moved the court below under S.69 of the Court Fees Act for an order directing refund of one half of the court fee paid on the plaint. The court below rejected the application entering the following finding:

"Here after issues were raised on 8-8-83 the suit was posted to 23-11-83 after several adjournments. The defendants did not press their contentions subsequently. So it is not a disposal coming within S.69 of the Court Fees Act and hence refund of 1/2 fee is disallowed "

4. The question that arises for consideration is whether the order of the court below refusing refund of one half of the court fee to the plaintiff is proper or not. The answer depends upon the construction of S.69 of the Court Fees Act. S.69 reads:

"69. When a suit or appeal is compromised or when a suit is decided solely on the admission of the parties without any investigation, one-half of the Court fee paid on the plaint or memorandum of appeal shall be ordered by the Court to be refunded to the parties by whom the same have been paid respectively."

The Section provides that when a suit or appeal is compromised or when the suit is decided solely on the admission of the parties without any investigation', one-half of the Court fee paid on the plaint or memorandum of appeal shall be ordered to be refunded to the respective parties who had paid the court fee. The two conditions that should be satisfied are: (1) The suit or appeal is compromised or (2) The suit is decided solely on the admission of the parties without any investigation.

5. So far as the case on band is concerned, it falls within the second category. However, the court below rejected the claim on the ground that since the issues had already been framed, the suit cannot be said to have been decided solely on the admission of the defendants without any investigation. As to why the court below held so, is not clear from the judgment. May be that the court below is of the view that the issues are settled only after conducting the enquiry envisaged under Clause.5 of R.1 of 0.14 CPC and therefore the suit cannot be said to be decided without any investigation although the defendants at the time of the final hearing admitted the suit claim. The enquiry under this rule in one respect is an investigation. But how far that enquiry or investigation for the limited purpose of framing issues, debars the party who bad paid the court fee on the plaint, from claiming refund of one half of the court fee on the suit being decided on confession (but after the framing of the issues) is the ticklish question warranting answer.

6. To enable a party to claim refund of one half of the court fee it should be established that the suit was decided solely on the admission of the party against whom a decree could be passed after investigation into the disputes arising for consideration in the suit. What are the disputes which should be investigated, are revealed only by the issues. And therefore a suit, can be decided with or without investigation only after the framing of the issues. But that is not the case when a suit is decided on confession. The suit can be treated as decided on admission when the defendant at the first hearing of the suit makes no defence as envisaged under Clause.6 of R.1 of 0.14 CPC. If that be the case, there is no need to frame the issues and thus there will be no investigation contemplated under Clause.5 of R.1 of 0.14. In such circumstance the suit is decided without conducting any enquiry because there is no dispute to be enquired into. But when the defence is made issues have to be framed. To decide the issues, there should be investigation into the disputes covered by the issues. After the framing of the