How Court Fee Is Calculated in India: Ad Valorem vs Fixed, State Court-Fees Acts, and How Suit Valuation Sets Both Your Fee and the Right Court (2026)
Court fee in India is calculated in one of two ways depending on the type of suit: ad valorem (a sliding percentage of the value you claim) or a fixed amount set by a schedule. You compute it under the Court-Fees Act, 1870 or your State's own Court-Fees Act, and the value you put on the suit does double duty — it fixes both the fee you pay and the court that has pecuniary jurisdiction to hear the case.
Court fee is the statutory charge a litigant pays the government to file a plaint, appeal, or application, calculated on the value of the relief claimed and paid before the court will number and register the case. Get the valuation wrong and the plaint can be returned or rejected for a deficit — so the calculation is the first thing to fix, not the last.
The two systems: ad valorem vs fixed fee
Ad valorem court fee is a fee charged as a percentage (usually a slab or stepped rate) of the monetary value of the claim, so the higher the amount or property value in dispute, the higher the fee. It applies to money suits, recovery, most property and declaration-plus-relief suits.
Fixed court fee is a flat amount prescribed by the fee schedule for a defined category of case, payable regardless of how much is at stake. It applies to things like injunction-only suits, many family-court petitions, caveats, and appeals under special statutes.
| Feature | Ad valorem fee | Fixed fee |
|---|---|---|
| Basis | % of the claim/property value | Flat scheduled amount |
| Typical suits | Money recovery, possession, cancellation of a deed, partition after ouster | Injunction, declaration without consequential relief, many petitions, caveat |
| Where in the Act | Schedule I (Court-Fees Act, 1870) | Schedule II (Court-Fees Act, 1870) |
| Scales with dispute? | Yes | No |
Which law applies — the central Act or your State's Act
Court fees are a State subject: Entry 3 of the State List (List II) of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution empowers each State to levy "fees taken in all courts except the Supreme Court." The result is that the Court-Fees Act, 1870 is the base statute, but most States have enacted their own — for example the Kerala Court-Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1959, the Karnataka Court-Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1958, the Andhra Pradesh Act of 1956, the Tamil Nadu Act of 1955, and the Maharashtra Court-Fees Act, 1959.
The rule for practice: always compute court fee under the Act in force in the State where you are filing, because the slabs, caps, and even the section numbers differ from State to State. A percentage that is right in Kerala can be wrong in Karnataka. The central 1870 Act still governs many Union Territories and fills gaps where a State has not amended a provision.
Section 7: how the value is computed, suit by suit
The heart of the calculation is Section 7 of the Court-Fees Act, 1870 (and its State equivalents), which tells you what value the ad valorem fee is charged on for each type of suit:
- Money suits (debt, damages, compensation, arrears): fee on the exact amount claimed.
- Maintenance and annuities: the subject-matter value is deemed to be ten times the amount claimed for one year — so a claim of ₹10,000/month (₹1,20,000/year) is valued at ₹12,00,000 for fee purposes.
- Movable property with a market value: fee on the market value.
- Possession of land, houses, gardens: fee on the value fixed by the Act's formula (often a multiple of the land revenue or market value).
- Declaration with consequential relief, injunctions, right to property, accounts, pre-emption — the six categories under Section 7(iv) — here the plaintiff states the value of the relief, and the fee follows that self-assessed figure (subject to the court's power to correct an obviously unreal valuation).
Partition is the classic trap. If you sue for partition while pleading that you are in joint possession, a fixed fee applies (Article 17(vi), Schedule II). But if the plaint admits you have been ousted or excluded from possession, you must pay ad valorem fee on the market value of your share under Section 7(iv)(b) — the point settled in cases like Shankar Maruti Girme v. Bhagwant Gunaji Girme (Bombay High Court). Several States insert a Section 7(vi-a) charging fee on one-quarter of the plaintiff's share if in possession, and on the full value if out of possession. Getting this line right is exactly the kind of check that decides whether your final decree in a partition suit survives an objection at the numbering stage.
Suit valuation fixes both your fee AND the right court
This is the point most first-timers miss. Under Section 8 of the Suits Valuation Act, 1887, for suits where court fee is payable ad valorem under Section 7(iv), (v), (vi), (ix) and (x)(d), the value for computing court fee and the value for pecuniary jurisdiction must be the same. In other words, the number you write for the fee also decides whether the case goes to the Munsiff/Junior Civil Judge, the District Court, or straight to a High Court on its original side. You cannot value a suit low to save court fee and then claim a higher forum, or vice versa — the two are locked together. This is why suit valuation, not the fee arithmetic alone, is the real skill. If you are still deciding which forum a dispute belongs in before you value it, our guides on choosing the right forum for property and tenancy disputes and on RERA vs the consumer forum for delayed possession walk through the forum question first.
What it costs: a worked example
Suppose you sue to recover ₹5,00,000 lent to a friend. It is a money suit under Section 7(i), so the fee is ad valorem on ₹5,00,000 at your State's slab rate. Because ad valorem rates and maximum caps vary — some States charge stepped percentages that taper as the amount rises, and many cap the maximum fee — always read the fee table (Schedule I) of your State's Act before you compute a rupee figure; a rate that looks like 1% at the bottom slab can differ sharply at ₹5 lakh, and a wrong assumption here is the single most common reason a plaint bounces. As a rough sense of scale, ordinary civil money suits attract court fee running into a few thousand to a few tens of thousands of rupees depending on value and State, while a fixed-fee injunction petition may cost only a few hundred rupees. For a live recovery matter, first decide whether the amount even justifies a suit — our companion guide on recovering a small money claim and when a legal notice is enough covers that cost-benefit call.
When and how you pay
Court fee is paid at the time of filing the plaint — the case will not be numbered until the correct fee is affixed. Payment is by non-judicial court-fee stamps, franking, or increasingly through online/e-court-fee portals (GRAS, e-Court Fee via Stock Holding Corporation, or the State's e-payment gateway). Keep the fee receipt or stamp reference — you will need it if you later apply for a refund.
If you under-value or the deadline has passed
If the court finds the fee deficient, it does not automatically dismiss you: under Section 149 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the court may allow you time to make good the shortfall, and once paid, the plaint is treated as filed on the original date — protecting your limitation. But if you ignore the deficiency, the plaint can be rejected under Order VII Rule 11(c) CPC. So treat a court-fee objection as urgent, not fatal. A rejected plaint can be filed afresh, but you lose time and sometimes limitation — which is why the fee is worth getting right on day one, the same discipline that protects you when you later file an execution petition on a money decree within the limitation period.
Can you get court fee back — or a concession?
Yes, in two important situations. Refund on settlement: where the court refers parties to mediation, conciliation, Lok Adalat, or arbitration under Section 89 CPC and the matter settles, the plaintiff is entitled to a certificate for refund of the full court fee (Section 16, Court-Fees Act, 1870, and Section 21 of the Legal Services Authorities Act for Lok Adalat settlements). Fee waiver for the poor: a person without sufficient means can sue as an indigent person under Order XXXIII CPC, filing without paying court fee upfront (the State can recover it later if the suit succeeds). Several States also give concessional or nil fee to women in specific matters — check your State's Act.
When you need an advocate vs when you can do it yourself
For a straightforward fixed-fee petition (a simple injunction, a caveat, a family-court petition), a litigant-in-person can usually compute the fee from the schedule. But the moment the suit involves declaration plus consequential relief, cancellation of a document, partition, or a valuation the other side may contest, the valuation drives both your cost and your forum — and a mistake means a returned plaint or a jurisdictional objection months later. That is where a two-minute statutory check, or an advocate's eye, earns its keep.
How Urava helps
Urava is an AI legal-research assistant for Indian law that, alongside a court-ready cited memorandum, flags the statutory pre-conditions behind a filing — which Court-Fees Act applies in your State, whether your suit takes ad valorem or fixed fee, how the valuation is computed under Section 7, and how that value fixes your pecuniary jurisdiction. Ask a question in plain English (or upload a scanned Malayalam/Hindi document) and get a cited, checkable answer in about ten minutes on WhatsApp. Start free — three researches, no card — at urava.app/register.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is court fee calculated in India?
Court fee is calculated either ad valorem — a slab percentage of the value of the relief claimed — or as a fixed scheduled amount, depending on the type of suit. You compute it under the Court-Fees Act, 1870 or your State's own Court-Fees Act, based on the value determined for the suit under Section 7, and pay it before the plaint is registered.
What is the difference between ad valorem and fixed court fee?
Ad valorem court fee scales with the money or property value in dispute (a percentage of the claim), while fixed court fee is a flat amount set by the schedule regardless of value. Money-recovery, possession, and cancellation suits usually attract ad valorem fee; injunction-only suits, caveats, and many petitions attract a fixed fee.
Does the court fee depend on which state I file in?
Yes. Court fees are a State subject, so each State can set its own slabs and caps under its own Court-Fees Act — for example Kerala's 1959 Act or Karnataka's 1958 Act — while the central Court-Fees Act, 1870 governs where a State has not legislated. Always use the fee table of the State where you are filing.
What happens if I pay too little court fee?
The plaint is not dismissed outright. Under Section 149 CPC the court can give you time to pay the deficit, and once paid the plaint counts as filed from the original date, protecting limitation. If you fail to make it good, the plaint can be rejected under Order VII Rule 11(c) CPC, so act on a deficiency notice immediately.
Can I get my court fee refunded?
Yes. If your case is referred to mediation, Lok Adalat, or arbitration under Section 89 CPC and settles, you can obtain a certificate for a full refund of court fee under Section 16 of the Court-Fees Act, 1870. Litigants without means can also sue without paying fee upfront as an indigent person under Order XXXIII CPC.