Deficit court fee cured under CPC cannot later justify rejection of plaint through a belated challenge.

Section 149 CPC permits a court to allow payment of deficient court fee at any stage, and once the deficiency is made good the plaint is treated as duly stamped from the outset. That liberal power cannot be undone by a later challenge to earlier orders passed by a court of jurisdiction. A belated application under Order VII Rule 11(c) to reject a plaint, filed after the suit had progressed and evidence had been recorded, was therefore not maintainable. The earlier order allowing payment of deficit court fee remained effective, and the High Court erred in interfering with the trial court's refusal to reject the plaint.

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Issues: Whether a plaint presented with deficit court fee, where time to make good the deficiency had already been granted and acted upon, could later be rejected under Order VII Rule 11(c) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

Analysis: Section 149 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 confers discretion on the court to permit payment of deficient court fee at any stage, and upon such payment the document is treated as if the fee had been paid in the first instance. The provision is a liberal enabling provision intended to mitigate the rigour of Section 4 of the Court Fees Act, 1870. Once the court has exercised that power and the deficiency has been made good, the plaint cannot be treated as non est merely because the application initially referred to another provision or because the defendant later seeks to question the earlier orders. An order passed by a court having jurisdiction remains effective unless set aside in appropriate proceedings. An application under Order VII Rule 11(c) filed at a belated stage, after the suit had proceeded and evidence had been recorded, was not a proper means to undo the earlier orders permitting payment of deficit court fee.

Conclusion: The later application for rejection of the plaint was not maintainable and the High Court was wrong in interfering with the trial court's order dismissing it.

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