E-court fee payment system from Friday

The Madras High Court has decided to commence e-court fee system from Friday. It will enable litigants who file cases in the principal seat of the High Court in Chennai as well as its Madurai Bench to pay judicial stamp duty to the government through e-stamps, which can be purchased both online and offline.

According to a notification issued by the court, the new system would pave the way for easier and secured way of paying stamp duty. It would also help tackle sale of counterfeit judicial stamps. The e-stamps can be purchased online through the website of Stock Holding Corporation after a simple registration process.

Payments can be made through net banking or debit cards and so on and the e-court fee receipts can be attached along with the case bundles while presenting them in the High Court Registry at the time of filing cases. The advantage of the system is that the court fee can be paid as and when the user desires without bothering about non-availability of physical stamps.

Authorised centres

Those who do not have debit cards and computer facilities can approach the authorised centres to be set up on the court campus and make the payment in cash to obtain the e-court fee receipts. Such centres will be initially established on the High Court campus in Chennai as well as in Madurai before the e-court fee payment facility is extended to lower courts too.

S. Srinivasaraghavan, former vice-president of the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court Bar Association, welcomed the move. He recalled that the State government had amended the Tamil Nadu Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act in 2016 itself to make e-stamps also an acceptable mode of payment of court fees.

“The advocate community has been waiting for the day when e-stamps would become a reality. A public interest litigation petition was filed in the High Court for early implementation and it was disposed of recently after the government said that the facility would be extended to the public shortly. Finally, it has come into force and we are happy,” Mr. Srinivasaraghavan said.