1. The issue involved in these cases is mainly in respect of the actual court fee payable for challenging the orders passed by the concerned District Court either under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 ('New Act' in short) or the Awards passed under Section 34 of the Act in an appeal preferred under Section 37 (1) (a) (in respect of interim order) and those coming within the purview of Section 37 (1) (b) in respect of the final awards.

2. The matter necessitated elaborated consideration in view of the amendment of the Statute (Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act) as per the Finance Act 2013 w.e.f. 01.04.2013, stipulating payment of court fee as provided under Article 4 (i) or (4) (ii) of the Second Schedule. On an earlier occasion, when objection was noted by the Registry as to the adequacy of court fee, a detailed order was passed by this Court as reported in 2015 (5) KHC 929 [Syndicate Bank Vs. Nishad Mathew and Ors.] insisting to pay 'ad valorem' court fee in terms of Article 4 (ii) of the Second Schedule. In some subsequent cases, this Court permitted numbering of the appeals (arising from interim orders in terms of Section 9, r/w Section 37(1)