A token court fee of Rs.25/- is sufficient at the time of applying for letters of administration, with full fees due only after granting the letters, adhering to Section 276 of the Indian Succession Act.

JUDGMENT :

SANDEEP JAIN, J.

1. The instant appeal has been filed by the petitioner/appellant under Section 299 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, against the impugned order dated 30.07.2024 passed by the Additional District Judge, Court No. 10, Kanpur Nagar, in O.S. No.3 of 2023 (Shailendra Jain vs. State of U.P. and others), whereby the appellant's application 39-A Kha has been rejected, whereby it was prayed that the appellant be permitted to make good the deficiency of Court fees after the letters of administration was granted in his favour.

2. The facts in brief are that the petitioner/appellant applied for grant of letters of administration regarding the unregistered Will dated 16.4.2022, which was executed by his mother Smt. Veer Bala Jain in favour of the appellant whereby all her movable and immovable assets were bequeathed to the appellant. It is the case of the appellant that his father Jitendra Kumar Jain died on 22.11.2004 and his mother Smt. Veer Bala Jain also died on 20.05.2022, as such, after her death the above Will came into effect and for getting letters of administration, the appellant filed O.S. No.3 of 2023 before the Court of District Judge, Kanpur Nagar, which was later on transferred to the Additional District Judge, Court No.10, Kanpur Nagar.

3. It is apparent that at the time of filing the above suit, the petitioner- appellant only paid Court fees of Rs.25/-, whereas the valuation of the suit was Rs.15,00,000/-. A preliminary objection was raised by the Munsarim that the Court fees paid by the petitioner-appellant was deficient by Rs.1,12,882.50 and on this, the petitioner moved an application 39-C dated 13.10.2023 before the trial court to permit him to make good the deficiency of Court fees after the petition seeking letters of administration is allowed and not before the passing of the order of the court.

4. The above application of the petitioner was objected by the contesting respondent No.3 Smt. Shweta Jain on the ground that letters of administration has been sought regarding unregistered Will dated 16.04.2022, which is doubtful, which has not been executed by Smt. Veer Bala Jain, which has been challenged by her. It was further averred that a Court fees of Rs.1,12,882.50 paise was required to be paid on it and as such, without paying this amount the petition seeking letters of administration was not legally maintainable.

5. The trial court vide impugned order dated 30.07.2024 has concluded that as per report of Munsarim dated 16.03.2023, there is a deficiency of Court fees of Rs.1,12,907.50 paise but the petitioner has only paid Rs.25/- , as such, the deficiency of Court fees of Rs.1,12,882.50 paise remains, which is required to be made good. The trial court considered the case law submitted by the petitioner reported in AIR 2010 Uttarakhand 22, but still concluded that since the petition has been converted into an original suit, being a contentious case, as such, the above precedent was not applicable and the petitioner is required to pay ad-valorem Court fees under Section 7(iv-A) of the Court Fees Act, which has not been paid by the petitioner at the time of filing of the petition. In the light of this reasoning, the petitioner was directed to make good the deficiency of court fees of Rs.1,12,882.50 paise, aggrieved against which the petitioner has filed this Appeal under Section 299 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925.

6. Ms. Shreya Gupta, learned Counsel for the appellant submitted that at the time of applying for letters of administration, the petitioner is only required to pay the fixed C