4. Levy of fee in Courts and Public offices.-

No document which is chargeable with fee under this Act shall-

(i) be filed, exhibited or recorded in, or be acted on or furnished by, any Court including the High Court, or

(ii) be filed, exhibited or recorded in any public office, or be acted on or furnished by any public officer, unless in respect of such document there be paid a fee of an amount not less than that indicated as chargeable under this Act:

Provided that, 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 Court necessary to prevent a failure of justice, nothing contained in this section shall be deemed to prohibit such filling or exhibition.

5. Fees on documents inadvertently received.-

When a document on which the whole or any part of the fee prescribed by this Act has not been paid is produced or has, through mistake or inadvertence, been received in any Court or public office, the court or the head of the office may, in its or his discretion at any time, allow the person by whom such fee is payable to pay the fee or part thereof, as the case may be within such time as may be fixed; and upon such payment the document shall have the same force and effect as if the full fee had been paid in the first instance.

6. Multifarious suits.-

(1) In any suit in which separate and distinct reliefs are sought based on the same cause of action, the plaint shall be chargeable with a fee on the aggregate value of the reliefs: Provided that, if a relief is sought only as ancillary to the main relief the plaint shall be chargeable only on the value of the main relief.

(2) Where more reliefs than one based on the same cause of action are sought in the alternative in any suit, the plaint shall be chargeable with the highest of the fees leviable on the reliefs.

(3) Where a suit embraces two or more distinct and different causes of action and separate reliefs are sought based on them, either alternatively or cumulatively, the plaint shall be chargeable with the aggregate amount of the fees with which plaints would be chargeable under this Act if separate suits were instituted in respect of the several causes of action:

Provided that, where the causes of action in respect of reliefs claimed alternatively against the same person arise out of the same transaction, the plaint shall be chargeable only with the highest of the fees chargeable on them.

(4) Nothing in sub-section (3) shall be deemed to affect any power conferred upon a Court under rule 6 of Order II of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act 5 of 1908).

(5) The provisions of this section shall apply mutatis mutandis to memoranda of appeals, applications, petitions and written statements.

Explanation.-

For the purpose of this section, a suit for possession of immovable property and for mesne profits shall be deemed to be based on the same cause of action.

7. Determination of market value.-

(1) Save as otherwise provided, where the fee payable under this Act depends on the market value of any property, such value shall be determined as on the date of presentation of the plaint.

(2) The market value of land in suits falling under clauses (a) and (b) of section 24 or under clause (a) of section 26 or under section 28 or under section 29 or under sub-section (1) or sub-section (3) of section 35 or under section 36 or under section 44 shall be deemed to be -

(a) where rent in respect of such land has been settled, twenty-five times the rent rate sanctioned therefor during the last settlement, and

(b) where rent in respect of such land has not been settled, twenty-five times the rent rate sanctioned during the last settlement for similar land in the neighbourhood.

8. Set off or counter claim.-

A written statement pleading a set off or counter claim shall be chargeable with fee in the same manner as a plaint.

9. Documents falling under two or more descriptions.-

A document falling within two or more descriptions in this Act shall, where the fees chargeable thereunder are different, be chargeable only with the highest of such fees:

Provided that, where one of such descriptions is special and another general, the fee chargeable shall be the fee appropriate to the special description.