Provisions of Section 51 of Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suit Valuation Act are not applicable to an appeal filed under Section 9 of Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Harijan Welfare Schemes Act, 1978.

An important question of law as to whether in respect of appeals made under Section 9 of the Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Harijan Welfare Schemes Act, 1978, (hereinafter called "the Harijan Welfare Act"), Court Fee is to be paid under Section 51 of the Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1955 (hereinafter called "the Court Fees Act") or under Article 3 Schedule II of the Court Fees Act, is involved in these revisions.

2.The learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in all these civil revision petitions as well as the learned Additional Advocate General representing the respondent have advanced elaborate arguments.

3.In order to decide the said question of law, it is necessary to refer to the relevant provisions of various Acts, viz., (i) Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Harijan Welfare Schemes Act, 1978, (ii) the Tamil Nadu Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act, 1971 (iii) the Tamil Nadu Slum Improvement (Acquisition of land) Act (IX of 1954), (Repealed by Tami Nadu Act XI of 1971) and (iv) Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1955.

4.The Tamil Nadu Acquisition of Land for Harijan Welfare Schemes Act, 1978, has been enacted to provide for acquisition of land for Harijan welfare Schemes in the State of Tamil Nadu. Under Section 4 of the Act, the District Collector has been empowered to acquire land for public purposes under the Harijan welfare schemes and under Section 5 of the said Act, the land so acquired shall vest with the Government from the date of publication of notice under Section 4(1) of the Act. Section 6 of the Act, deals with the right of every person having any interest in any land acquired under the Act, to receive and be paid "an amount" as provided in the Act. Section 7 of the Act, is more relevant for the question involved in these revisions and therefore, the same is extracted below:-

"7.Determination of amount.-(1) The amount payable in respect of any land acquired under this Act shall be the market value of such land on the date of publication of the notice under sub Section (1) of Section 4.

(2)In addition to the market value of the land as provided above, the prescribed authority shall, in every case, award a sum of fifteen per centum on such market value as solatium in consideration of the compulsory nature of the acquisition.

(3)The prescribed authority shall, after holding an inquiry in the prescribed manner, determine, by order, the amount payable under sub-section (1). A copy of the said order shall be communicated to the owner of such land and every person interested therein." (Emphasis supplied)

5.Section 8 of the Act, deals with the factors which shall not be taken into account while determining the amount. Section 9 of the Act, provides for appeal and the same is extracted below:-

"9. Appeal against order of amount determined: -Any person, who does not agree to the amount determined by the prescribed authority under sub-section (2) of section 7, may prefer an appeal to the court within such period as may be prescribed. (Emphasis supplied)

6.Section 10 deals with apportionment of the amount determined and Section 11 of the Act, provides for tendering of the amount to the persons entitled thereto Section 11 of the Act is extracted below:-

"11.Payment of amount.-(1)After the amount has been determined, the prescribed authority shall tender payment of the amount to the persons entitled thereto and shall pay it to them-

.(i) in a lump sum [in a case where it does not exceed two thousand rupees, and

(ii) in all other cases, in such number of equal annual instalments not exceeding five as may be determined by the prescribed authority and the amount of each such annual instalment shall not be less than two thousand rupees:

Provided that where the balance of the amount due in any instalment is less than two thousand rupees, only the actual amount so due shall be paid.]

.(2) If the persons entitled to the amount do not consent to receive it or if there be no