ORDER.- This revision petition raises the question as to whether the plaintiff is entitled to refund of half the Court-fees on the suit having been dismissed as settled out of Court but in which there was originally an ex parte decree which was later set side. There is no direct authority on the point. Section 69 of the Court-fees Act (XIV of 1955) says that:

“Whenever any suit is dismissed as settled out of Court before any evidence has been recorded on the merits of the claim half the amount of all fees paid in respect of the claim or claims in the suit shall be ordered by the Court to be refunded to the parties by whom the same have been respectively paid”.

In the present case, there was an ex parte decree and that decree was set aside on the defendant’s filing an application. Ultimately, the matter was settled out of Court and the suit was dismissed accordingly. The plaintiff applied for refund of half the Court-fee on the footing that section 69 of the Court-fees Act applies. The Court below has held that evidence having been once recorded, that is, when the suit was decreed ex parte, the plaintiff is not entitled to a refund. The question for consideration is whether the ex par

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