Act No. 15 of 2024
27th August, 2024
An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to fees taken in the courts and public offices and fees taken in respect of certain matters in the State of Goa, other than fees falling under entries 77 and 96 of List I in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India.
Read full Act
(1) This Act may be called the Goa Court-Fees Act, 2024.
(2) It shall extend to the whole of the State of Goa.
(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
(4) The provisions of this Act shall not apply to fees or stamps relating to documents presented or to be presented before any officer serving under the Central Government.
(5) In the absence of any specific provision to the contrary, nothing in this Act shall affect any special law now in force relating to fees taken in the courts and public offices.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,--
The fees payable for the time being to the clerks and officers (other than the sheriffs and attorneys) of the High Court; or chargeable in that Court under article 10 of Schedule I and articles 9, 12 and 17 of Schedule II hereto, shall be as per the provisions of this Act.
No document of any of the kinds specified in schedules hereto, as chargeable with fees, shall be filed, exhibited or recorded in, or shall be received or furnished by the High Court in any case coming before such Court in the exercise of its extraordinary original civil jurisdiction or in the exercise of its extraordinary original criminal jurisdiction or in the exercise of its jurisdiction as regards appeals from the judgments (other than judgments passed in the exercise of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the Court) of one or more Judges of the said Court, or of a Division Court or in the exercise of its jurisdiction as regards appeals from the Courts subject to its superintendence or in the exercise of its jurisdiction as a Court of reference or revision unless in respect of such document there shall be paid a fee of an amount not less than that indicated by either of the schedules hereto as the proper fee for such document.
(1) When any difference arises between the officer whose duty it is to see that any fee is paid under this Chapter and any suitor, petitioner, appellant, applicant or attorney, as to the necessity of paying a fee or the amount thereof, the question shall, when the difference arises in the High Court, be referred to the taxing-officer, whose decision thereon shall be final, except when the question is, in his opinion, one of general importance, in which case he shall refer it to the final decision of the Chief Justice of such High Court, or of such Judge of the High Court as the Chief Justice shall appoint either generally or specially in this behalf.
(2) The Chief Justice of the High Court shall declare who shall be taxing-officer for the purpose of sub-section (1).
Except in the Courts hereinbefore mentioned, no document of any of the kinds specified as chargeable with fees in the Schedules shall be filed, exhibited or recorded in any Court of Justice, or shall be received or furnished by any public officer, unless in respect of such document there has been paid a fee of an amount not less than that indicated in either of the said Schedules as the proper fee for such document.
The amount of fee payable in the suits specified herein shall be computed,--
(1) The amount of fee payable under this Act on a memorandum of appeal against an order relating to compensation under any Act for the time being in force for the acquisition of land for public purposes, shall be computed according to the difference between the amount awarded and the amount claimed or challenged by the appellant:
Provided that, where the Government is an acquiring body, it shall not be liable for payment of fee in such appeals.
Explanation.-- For the purposes of this sub-section, "amount" means the amount in dispute and it shall not include the amount of statutory benefits.
(2) The amount of fee payable under this Act on a memorandum of appeal against an award of a Claims Tribunal preferred under section 173 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (Central Act 59 of 1988), shall be computed as follows:--
If the Court sees reason to think that the annual net profits or the market-value of any such land, house or garden as is specified in clauses (v) and (vi) of section 7 have or has been wrongly estimated, the Court may, for the purpose of computing the fee payable in any suit therein mentioned, issue a commission to any proper person directing him to make such local or other investigation as may be necessary, and to report thereon to the Court.
(1) If in the result of any such investigation, the Court decides that the net profits or market-value have or has been wrongly estimated, the Court, if the estimation has been excessive, may in its discretion refund the excess paid as such fee: but, if the estimation has been insufficient, the Court shall require the plaintiff to pay so much additional fee as would have been payable had the said market-value or net profits been rightly estimated.
(2) In such case the suit shall be stayed until the additional fee is paid. If the additional fee is not paid within such time as the Court shall fix, the suit shall be dismissed.
(1) In suits for mesne profits or for immovable property and mesne profits, or for an account, if the profits or amount decreed are or is in excess of the profits claimed or the amount at which the plaintiff valued the relief sought, the decree shall not be executed until the difference between the fee actually paid and the fee which would have been payable had the suit comprised the whole of the profits or amount so decreed shall have been paid to the proper officer.
(2) Where the amount of mesne profits is left to be ascertained in the course of the execution of the decree, if the profits so ascertained exceed the profits claimed, the further execution of the decree shall be stayed until the difference between the fee actually paid and the fee which would have been payable had the suit comprised the whole of the profits so ascertained is paid. If the additional fee is not paid within such time as the Court shall fix, the suit shall be dismissed.
Every question relating to valuation for the purpose of determining the amount of any fee chargeable under this Chapter on a plaint or memorandum of appeal, shall be decided by the Court in which such plaint or memorandum, as the case may be, is filed, and such decision shall be final as between the parties to the suit:
Provided that whenever any such suit comes before a Court of appeal, reference or revision, if such Court considers that the said question has been wrongly decided to the detriment of the revenue, it shall require the party by whom such fee has been paid to pay so much additional fee as would have been payable had the question been rightly decided, and the provisions of sub-section (2) of Section 10, shall apply.
(1) Where a plaint or memorandum of appeal which has been rejected by the lower Court is ordered to be received, or where a suit is remanded in appeal for a fresh decision by the lower Court, the Court making the order or remanding the appeal shall, where the whole decree is reversed and the suit is remanded, and may in other cases direct the refund to the appellant of the full amount of fee paid on the memorandum of appeal, and, if on second appeal the case is remanded to the trial Court, also on the memorandum of appeal in the first appellate Court.
(2) Where an appeal is remanded in second appeal for a fresh decision by the lower appellate Court, the High Court when remanding the appeal may direct the refund to the appellant of the full amount of fee paid on the memorandum of second appeal.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (1) and (2) if the order of remand does not cover the whole of the subject matter of the suit, the refund shall not extend
Where an application for a review of judgment is presented on or after the ninetieth day from the date of the decree, the Court, unless the delay was caused by the applicants laches, may, in its discretion, grant him a certificate authorizing him to receive back from the Collector or by way of e-payment, in the manner as prescribed, so much of the fee paid on the application as exceeds the fee which would have been payable had it been presented before such day.
Where an application for a review of judgment is admitted, and where, on the rehearing, the Court reverses or modifies its former decision on the ground of mistake in law or fact, the applicant shall be entitled to a certificate from the Court authorising him to receive back from the Collector or by way of e-payment, in the manner as prescribed, so much of the fee paid on the application as exceeds the fee payable on any other application to such Court under clause (b) and (c) of article 1 of Schedule II hereto:
Provided that this section shall not entitle the applicant to such certificate where the reversal or modification is due, wholly or in part, to fresh evidence which might have been produced at the original hearing.
Where the Court refers the parties to a suit to any one of the mode of settlement of dispute referred to in section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act 5 of 1908) and the matter is settled by one of the modes provided under section 89 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act 5 of 1908), the plaintiff shall be entitled to a certificate from the Court authorising him to receive back from the Collector or by way of e-payment, in the manner as prescribed, the full amount of the fee paid in respect of such plaint.
(1) Where a plaint or memorandum of appeal is rejected on the ground of delay in its presentation or where the fee paid on a plaint or memorandum of appeal is deficient and the deficiency is not made good within the time allowed by law or granted by the Court, or the delay in payment of the deficit fee is not condoned and the plaint or memorandum of appeal is consequently rejected, the Court shall direct the refund to the plaintiff or the appellant, of the fee paid on the plaint or memorandum of appeal which has been rejected.
(2) Where a memorandum of appeal is rejected on the ground that it was not presented within the time allowed by the law of limitation, one-half of the fee shall be refunded.
Wherever by agreement of parties,--
half the amount of all fees paid in respect of the claim or claims in the suit or appeal shall be ordered by the Court to be refunded to the parties by whom the same have been respectively paid.
Explanation (1): The expression merits of the claim refers to all matters which arise for determination in the suit not being matters relating to the frame of the suit, misjoinder of parties and cause of action, the jurisdiction of the court to entertain or try the suit or the fee payable, but includes matters arising on pleas of res-judicata, limitation and the like.
Expla
Any fee paid by mistake or inadvertence shall be ordered to be refunded.
When a person becomes entitled to a refund of court fees, the court shall grant a certificate authorising him to receive back from the Collector or by way of e-payment, in the manner as prescribed, the amount specified therein, calculated according to the provisions of this Act.
Where a suit embraces two or more distinct subjects, the plaint or memorandum of appeal shall be chargeable with the aggregate amount of the fees to which the plaints or memoranda of appeal in suits embracing separately each of such subjects would be liable under this Act:
Provided that nothing in this section shall be deemed to affect the power conferred by section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act 5 of 1908).
When the first or only examination of a person who complains of the offence of wrongful confinement, or of wrongful restraint, or of any offence other than an offence for which police-officers may arrest without a warrant, and who has not already presented a petition on which a fee has been levied under this Act, is reduced to writing under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (Central Act No. 46 of 2023), the complainant shall pay a fee of ten rupees, unless the Court thinks fit to remit such payment.
Nothing contained in this Act shall render the following documents chargeable with any fee:--
Where any person on applying for the probate of a will or letters of administration has estimated the property of the deceased to be of greater value than the same has afterwards proved to be, and has consequently paid too high a court-fee thereon, if, within six months after the true value of the property has been ascertained, such person produces the probate or letters to the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority for the local area in which the probate or letters has or have been granted, and delivers to such Authority a particular inventory and valuation of the property of the deceased, verified by affidavit or affirmation, and if such Authority is satisfied that a greater fee was paid on the probate or letters than the law required, the said Authority may,--
Whenever it is proved to the satisfaction of such Authority that an executor or administrator has paid debts due from the deceased to such an amount as, being deducted out of the amount or value of the estate, reduces the same, to a sum which, if it had been the whole gross amount or value of the estate, would have occasioned a less court-fee to be paid on the probate or letters of administration granted in respect of such estate than has been actually paid thereon under this Act, such Authority may return the difference, provided the same be claimed within three years after the date of such probate or letters.
Provided that when, by reason of any legal proceeding, the debts due from the deceased have not been ascertained and paid, or his effects have not been recovered and made available, and in consequence thereof the executor or administrator is prevented from claiming the return of such difference within the said term of three years, the said Authority may allow such fur
(1) Whenever a grant of probate or letters of administration has been or is made in respect of the whole of the property belonging to an estate, and the full fee chargeable under this Act has been or is paid thereon, no fee shall be chargeable under the same Act when a like grant is made in respect of the whole or any part of the same property belonging to the same estate.
(2) Whenever such a grant has been or is made in respect of any property forming part of an estate, the amount of fees then actually paid under this Act shall be deducted when a like grant is made in respect of property belonging to the same estate, identical with or including the property to which the former grant relates.
The probate of the will or the letters of administration of the effects of any person deceased heretofore or hereafter granted shall be deemed valid and available by his executors or administrators for recovering, transferring or assigning, any movable or immovable property whereof or whereto the deceased was possessed or entitled, either wholly or partially as a trustee, notwithstanding the amount or value of such property is not included in the amount or value of the estate in respect of which a court-fee was paid on such probate or letters of administration.
Where any person on applying for probate or letters of administration has estimated the estate of the deceased to be of less value than the same has afterwards proved to be, and has in consequence paid too low a court-fee thereon, the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority for the local area in which the probate or letters has or have been granted may, on the value of the estate of the deceased being verified by affidavit or affirmation, cause the probate or letters of administration to be duly stamped on payment of the full court-fee which ought to have been originally paid thereon in respect of such value and of the further penalty, if the probate or letters is or are produced within one year from the date of grant, of five times, or, if it or they, is or are produced after one year from such date, of twenty times, such proper court-fee, without any deduction of the court-fee originally paid on such probate or letters of administration:
Provided that, if the application b
In case of letters of administration on which too low a court-fee has been paid at first, the said Authority shall not cause the same to be duly stamped in manner aforesaid until the administrator has given such security to the Court by which the letters of administration have been granted as ought by law to have been given on the granting thereof in case the full value of the estate of the deceased had been then ascertained.
Where too low a court-fee has been paid on any probate or letters of administration in consequence of any mistake, or of its not being known at the time that some particular part of the estate belonged to the deceased, if any executor or administrator acting under such probate or letters of administration does not, within six months after the discovery of the mistake or of any effects not known at the time to have belonged to the deceased, apply to the said Authority and pay what is wanting to make up the court-fee which ought to have been paid at first on such probate or letters of administration, he shall forfeit the sum of one thousand rupees and also a further sum at the rate of ten percent on the amount of the sum wanting to make up the proper court-fee.
(1) Where an application for probate or letters of administration is made to any Court other than the High Court, the Court shall cause notice of the application to be given to the Collector.
(2) Where such an application as aforesaid is made to the High Court, the High Court shall cause notice of the application to be given to the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority.
(3) The Collector within the local limits of whose revenue-jurisdiction the property of the deceased or any part thereof is, may at any time inspect or cause to be inspected, and take or cause to be taken copies of, the record of any case in which application for probate or letters of administration has been made; and if, on such inspection or otherwise, he is of opinion that the petitioner has underestimated the value of the property of the deceased, the Collector may, if he thinks fit, require the attendance of the petitioner (either in person or by agent) and take evidence and inquire into the matter
(1) No order entitling the petitioner to the grant of probate or letters of administration shall be made upon an application for such grant until the petitioner has filed in the Court a valuation of the property in the form set forth in Schedule III, and the Court is satisfied that the fee specified in article 10 of Schedule I has been paid on such valuation.
(2) The grant of probate or letters of administration shall not be delayed by reason of any report made by the Collector under sub-section (3) of section 31.
(1) Any excess fee found to be payable on any inquiry held under sub-section 6 of section 31 and any penalty or forfeiture under section 30, may, on the certificate of the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority, be recovered from the executor or administrator as if it were an arrear of land revenue by any Collector.
(2) The Chief Controlling Revenue Authority may remit the whole or any part of any such penalty or forfeiture as aforesaid, or any part of any penalty under section 28 or of any court-fee under section 28 in excess of the full court-fee which ought to have been paid.
Nothing in section 6 or section 44 shall apply to probates or letters of administration.
(1) The High Court shall make rules as to the following matters, namely:--
(2) The High Court may from time to time amend the rules so made.
(1) All such rules and amendments shall, after being confirmed by the Government, be published in the Official Gazette, and shall thereupon have the force of law.
(2) Until such rules are made and published, the fees leviable for serving and executing processes shall continue to be levied and shall be deemed to be fees leviable under this Act.
A table in the English and regional languages, showing the fees chargeable for such service and execution, shall be exposed to view in a conspicuous part of each Court.
Subject to the rules to be made by the High Court and approved by the Government, every District Judge, the Principal Judge and every Magistrate of a District shall fix, and may from time to time alter, the number of peons or persons necessary to be employed for the service and execution of processes issued out of his Court, and each of the Courts subordinate thereto.
Subject to rules to be framed by the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority and approved by the Government, every officer performing the functions of a Collector of a District shall fix, and may from time to time alter, the number of peons necessary to be employed for the service and execution of processes issued out of his Court or the Courts subordinate to him.
All fees shall be charged and collected under this Act at the rate in force on the date on which the document chargeable to court-fees is or was presented.
All fees chargeable under this Act shall be collected by stamps or e-payment.
The stamps or e-payment used to denote any fees chargeable under this Act shall be impressed or adhesive or partly impressed and partly adhesive, as the Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, from time to time direct.
(1) The Government may, from time to time, make rules for regulating,--
Provided that, in the case of stamps used under section 3 in a High Court, such rules shall be made, with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court.
(2) All such rules shall be published in the Official Gazette, and shall thereupon have the force of law.
No document which ought to bear a stamp under this Act shall be of any validity unless and until it is properly stamped:
Provided that where any such document is through mistake or inadvertence received, filed or used in any Court or office without being properly stamped, the presiding Judge or the head of the office, as the case may be, or, in the case of a High Court, any Judge of such Court, may, if he thinks fit, order that such document be stamped as he may direct; and, on such document being stamped accordingly, the same and every proceeding relative thereto shall be as valid as if it had been properly stamped in the first instance.
Where any such document is amended in order merely to correct a mistake and to make it conform to the original intention of the parties, it shall not be necessary to impose a fresh stamp.
(1) No document requiring a stamp under this Act shall be filed or acted upon in any proceeding in any Court or office until the stamp has been cancelled.
(2) Such officer as the Court or the head of the office may from time to time appoint shall, on receiving any such document, forthwith effect such cancellation by punching out the figure-head so as to leave the amount designated on the stamp untouched, and the part removed by punching shall be burnt or otherwise destroyed:
Provided that, where court-fee is paid by e-payment, the officer competent to cancel stamp shall verify the genuineness of the payment and after satisfying himself that the court-fee is paid, shall lock the entry in the computer and make an endorsement under his signature on the document that the court-fee is paid and the entry is locked.
(1) When any suit in a Court or any proceeding instituted by presenting a petition to a Court is settled by agreement of parties before any evidence is recorded, or any appeal or cross objection is settled by agreement of parties before it is called on for effective hearing by the Court, half the amount of the fee paid by the plaintiff, petitioner, appellant, or respondent on the plaint, petition, appeal or cross objection, as the case may be, shall be repaid to him by the Court:
Provided that, no such fee shall be repaid if the amount of fee paid does not exceed one hundred rupees or the claim for repayment is not made within one year from the date on which the suit, proceeding, appeal or cross objection was settled by agreement.
(2) The Government may, from time to time, by order, provide for repayment to the plaintiffs, petitioners, complainants under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (Act No. 26 of 1881) appellants or respondents of any part
Whenever the filing or exhibition in a Criminal Court of a document in respect of which the proper fee has not been paid is, in the opinion of the presiding Judge, necessary to prevent a failure of justice, nothing contained in section 4 or section 6 shall be deemed to prohibit such filing or exhibition.
(1) The Government may from time to time make rules for regulating the sale of stamps or e-payment to be used under this Act, the persons by whom alone such sale is to be conducted, and the duties and remuneration of such persons.
(2) All such rules shall be published in the Official Gazette, and shall thereupon have the force of law.
(3) Any person appointed to sell stamps who disobeys any rules made under this section, and any person not so appointed who sells or offers for sale only stamp, shall, on conviction, be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to five thousand rupees or with both.
The Government may, from time to time, by notification in the Official Gazette, reduce or remit, in the whole or in any part of the State, all or any of the fees mentioned in the Schedules hereto and may in like manner cancel or vary such order.
Nothing in Chapters II and VII of this Act applies to the fees which any officer of the High Court is allowed to receive in addition to a fixed salary.
Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to affect the stamp duties chargeable under any other law for the time being in force relating to stamp duties.
Explanation.-- The Stamp duty shall have the same meaning as provided under the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 (2 of 1899).
(1) The Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules to carry out the purposes of this Act.
(2) All rules made by the Government under this Act shall be laid before House of the State Legislature as soon as may be after they are made and shall be subject to such modifications as the State Legislature may make during the session in which they are so laid or the session immediately following.
The Court Fees Act, 1870 (Central Act 7 of 1870) in its application to the State of Goa, is hereby repealed:
Provided that, such repeal shall not affect the previous operation of any of the laws so repealed and anything done or any action taken (including any appointment, notification, order, rule, form, application, reference, notice, report or certificate made or issued) under any such law shall, in so far as it is not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provision of this Act and shall continue to be in force accordingly, unless and until superseded by anything done or any action taken under this Act.
Elevate your legal practice with advanced AI-driven research and drafting solutions. Experience unmatched efficiency, precision, and security, tailored exclusively for legal professionals.
An indispensable Tool for Legal Professionals, Endorsed by Various High Court and Judicial Officers
Please visit our Training & Support
Center or Contact Us for assistance
Scan Me!
India’s Legal research and Law Firm App, Download now!
For Daily Legal Updates, Join us on :
Back to top
AI Assistant
