1. The question involved in this Original Petition is whether the plaintiff who paid the full court fee is entitled to get refund of the entire amount of court fee on settlement of the disputes between the parties and on filing a compromise petition under Rule 3 Order 23 of the Code of Civil Procedure and whether the plaintiff can invoke the benefit of Section 16 of the Court Fees Act, 1870.

2. The petitioner and others filed a suit against the respondents for specific performance of an agreement for sale. The suit was valued at Rs. 27,46,600/- and a court fee of Rs. 2,38,128/- was paid. The parties to the suit settled the disputes and they filed a compromise petition under R.3 of O.XXIII of the Code of Civil Procedure. In the compromise petition, it was stated that the plaintiffs do not want the relief for specific performance of the contract and that the defendants had repaid the advance sale consideration paid by the plaintiffs to them. It is also stated that the parties agreed to bear the court costs equally. A prayer was made for refund of the court fee paid by the plaintiffs.

3. The court below passed a judgment dated 13.1.2011, by which, the compromise was recorded a