The relief provided by the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation (Amendment) Act, 1991 governs all matters within its scope, and the relief granted is the antithesis of an impairment of an existing right.

K. Sukumaran, J.

1. Most that could be said on the concept and content of court fee has been said by the Supreme Court in P.M. Ashwathanarayana Setty v. State of Karnataka, AIR 1989 S.C. 100 and in Secretary, Government of Madras, Home Department v. Zenith Lamp and Electrical Ltd., AIR 1973 S.C. 724. Much that could be done within the constricted frame work of a delicate financial situation appears to have been done by the State of Kerala on the basis of a report and recommendations from an expert committee chaired by a former Chief Justice of this Court Many of the professional organisations with effective and genuine academic and public interest, have through their seminars, symposia and resolutions contributed much of thought in the practical plane. One of such meaningful exercises in the State was the seminar on court fee organised at the meeting of the Bar Federation held at Thodupuzha in which the former Chief Justice of Delhi, Shri Rajinder Sachar, delivered a well studied speech. Ordinance No. 9 of 1990 promulgated by the State of Kerala in implementation of the report, gives substantial relief in very many areas as regards court fee. A total abolition may be the ideal; but like many ideals, it is not easily attainable. Levying the court fee almost up to the breaking point may be within the power of the Government as conceded by the Constitution and the Court. An exercise of power in that way may be permissible and legal but not protective or popular. The Government of the day, depending upon its own sense of direction and in tune with its perspective on the future, may arrive at any particular decision. The State of Kerala has arrived at one in that manner. The result was the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation (Amendment) Ordinance, 1990. The Ordinance was duly replaced by the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation (Amendment) Act, 1991 (Act 6/91). The disturbance of the statutory waters is likely to cause the ripples all around. One stone has now been thrown. The ripples are there. The court's pronouncement may set it at rest. Only for the time being. Other stones may be thrown and other ripples may arise. And the courts ultimately absorb them and keep everything calm and clear. The process continues, with fresh challenges and without monotony.

2. Seemingly short and simple is the query raised in relation to court fee in these cases. These appeals have been filed after the amendment had been effected to the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1959. The Act 6/91 came into force on 5-12-1990. All the appeals are of a later date.

3. The provision for payment of court fees is contained in S.52. It reads:

"52. Appeals. The fee payable in an appeal shall be the same as the fee that would be payable in the Court of first instance on the subject matter of the appeal".

The litigant public in a sense is the prominent party in this interpretative litigation. The State, seeks an application of proper comparators for measuring the relief doled by the new Act. Even within its liberality, the measuring of relief has to be computed correctly and logically-was the stance of the State's counsel, the learned Advocate General. Even at the culmination of arguments in the case, it was clarified on his behalf that he was always a knight and never a prize fighter. When the controversy is live and real, the court has to blow up the cob-webs out of doubting heads. It is unwise to leave things in a woolly condition.

4. A plain reading of the section, to our minds, makes the meaning clear and simple. A taxing officer does not have much of vexation in the calculation of the court fee for an appeal. The section refers him to what is payable on a suit instituted. Necessarily it is a suit instituted at the time when he considers the question and quantum of court fee. Given the valuation, and the ready reckoner of a schedule, the calculation is easy and simple. If practical demonstration is needed, take the facts as are available in the appe