Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2026 Supreme(Online)(All) 914

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD

A.F.R.

FIRST APPEAL No. - 48 of 2025

Court No. - 39

Shailendra Jain .....Appellant(s)
Versus
State Of Up And 2 Others .....Respondent(s)

Counsel for Appellant(s) : Rajnish Sahai Saxena, Shreya Gupta, Vikas Mathur
Counsel for Respondent(s) : Kripa Shanker Pandey

HON'BLE SANDEEP JAIN, J.

Advocates:
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Rajnish Sahai Saxena, Shreya Gupta, Vikas Mathur
For the Respondents: Kripa Shanker Pandey

In an application for letters of administration under the Indian Succession Act, 1925, the petitioner is only required to pay a token court fee at the time of filing; the full court fee is payable only at the time of grant or issuance of the letters of administration.

Headnote:(A) Indian Succession Act, 1925 - Sections 276, 278, 295, 299 - Court Fees Act, 1870 - Schedule I Article 11, Schedule II - Letters of administration - Payment of court fees - Scope - Whether complete court fees must be paid at the time of filing the application or upon grant - Held, initial filing requires a token amount of Rs. 25/- under Schedule II; full court fees under Article 11, Schedule I are payable only upon grant of the letters of administration. (Paras 12, 16)

(B) Interpretation of statutes - Harmonious construction - Legislative intent - Statutes must be construed to avoid rendering any provision otiose; specific court fee provisions at the time of grant indicate that initial filing is not subject to full ad-valorem fees. (Para 12)

Facts of the case:
The appellant filed an original suit seeking letters of administration for an unregistered Will. At the time of filing, he paid a token court fee of Rs. 25/-. The trial court rejected his application seeking to pay the remaining court fee shortfall only after the grant of the letters, mandating upfront payment of the full ad-valorem fee.

Findings of Court:
The Court held that the trial court's order was erroneous. Following the principle of harmonious construction and existing judicial precedents, the petition for letters of administration is maintainable upon payment of the token fee, with the full fee payable at the stage of issuance/grant of the certificate.

Issues: Whether an applicant for letters of administration must deposit the entire court fee at the time of filing or if the payment can be deferred until the order granting the letters is passed.

Ratio Decidendi: Provisions of the Indian Succession Act and Court Fees Act reconcile such that initial applications are subject to token fees, while full ad-valorem duties are triggered only by the successful grant of administration.

Result: Appeal allowed.

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 Court fees of Rs.25/- as per Schedule II of the Court Fees Act and only after the court comes to the conclusion that the letters of administration is to be granted to the petitioner for a particular amount only then the petitioner is required to pay Court fees on it in accordance with Article 11 of Schedule I of the Court Fees Act, 1870. She further submitted that there is similar provision also for grant of s

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