TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2009 (1) TMI 547
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....reate a corpus or expense fund for the High Court Legal Services Committee or the State Legal Services Authority. While levy of an uniform token sum, as costs payable to the Legal Service Authority/Committee by way of a deterrent fine, in regard to non-compliance with procedural requirements, delays in representation of papers, etc., may not be objectionable, levy of huge amounts as costs in selected cases, made payable to the Legal Services Authorities, may invite adverse comments and evoke hostility to legal services in general. [paras 10, 11] Costs - Quantum of - Maximum limit of exemplary costs is Rs. 3000 even where a suit or litigation is vexatious - Huge costs of Rs. 50,000 or Rs. 1 lakh normally awarded only in writ proceedings and....
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....alty, in a litigation between two parties. Courts will have to act with care while opening new frontiers. [para 5] Costs - Power of Court - One view that inherent power of High Court to award costs not affected by Sections 35 and 35A of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 - View that discretion of court in awarding costs subject to conditions and limitations, more sound - Exercising inherent power contrary to provisions not arises when issue governed by Sections 35 and 35A ibid - Courts not to exceed or overlook limitations placed by CPC with reference to costs in civil litigation - Sections 35 and 35A ibid. [paras 6, 8] Costs - Award of - Levy of costs made payable to non-party charitable organizations to be avoided. [para 10] REPRESENTED BY ....
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....concurrent findings of the trial court and the High Court do not warrant interference and therefore this is not a fit case for grant of leave. 4. The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that levying costs of Rupees one lakh against the petitioner was not warranted. He submitted that as the appeal before the High Court arose out of a civil suit, costs were governed by Sections 35 and 35A of the Code of Civil Procedure ('Code' for short) and cannot exceed what is leviable under those provisions. 5. Under Section 35 of the Code, award of costs is discretionary but subject to the conditions and limitations as may be prescribed and the provisions of any law for the time being in force. Under Section 35A, compensatory costs f....
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....o regular costs, shall not exceed Rs. 3000/-. It is also to be noted that huge costs of the order of Rs. Fifty thousand or Rs. One lakh, are normally awarded only in writ proceedings and public interest litigations, and not in civil litigation to which Sections 35 and 35A are applicable. The principles and practices relating to levy of costs in administrative law matters cannot be imported mechanically in relation to civil litigation governed by the Code. 7. The present system of levying meagre costs in civil matters (or no costs in some matters), no doubt, is wholly unsatisfactory and does not act as a deterrent to vexatious or luxury litigation borne out of ego or greed, or resorted to as a 'buying-time' tactic. More realistic appro....
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....dle the parties with heavy costs to be paid to the state which spends money on judicial infrastructure. Having said so, in para 39, the High Court directed that the costs should be paid to the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee. The High Court Legal Services Committee, a statutory authority under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, is not the 'state' that spends money on providing judicial infrastructure, referred in the earlier para. Once the Court held that costs had to be paid to the state, it should have directed payment of the costs to the state and not the High Court Legal Services Committee. No litigant should be made to feel that heavy costs are being levied in some cases by Judges to create a corpus or expense fund for....