The West Bengal Court-Fees Act, 1970 (Act X of 1970) — Section 7 & Schedule I, Article 1, as amended by West Bengal Act XIX of 2002 (w.e.f. 28.10.2002)

West Bengal Ad Valorem Court-Fee Calculator

Pick the head of suit under Section 7 that fits the plaint, enter the figures the Act asks for to fix the valuation, and the proper ad valorem fee is read off the current (2002-amended) Schedule I Table of Rates automatically — subject to the fifty-thousand-rupee ceiling on any plaint or memorandum of appeal.

1. Nature of the suit

Proper Fee ₹ —

Show all thirteen valuation heads under Section 7, verbatim
  1. 7(i) Money suits — including damages/compensation, arrears of maintenance, annuities, or other sums payable periodically — according to the amount claimed. No fee on suits for damages for defamation.
  2. 7(ii) Maintenance & annuities — value deemed to be ten times the amount claimed payable for one year; for suits by widows for maintenance, value is the amount claimed payable for one year.
  3. 7(iii) Movable property with a market value — according to that value at the date of presenting the plaint.
  4. 7(iv) Movable property with no market value / declaratory decree with consequential relief / injunction / easement / accounts — according to the amount at which the plaintiff values the relief sought.
  5. 7(v) Possession of land, building or garden — fifteen times the net annual profit of the year before the plaint, or the market value if profits are not ascertainable.
  6. 7(vi) Recovery of possession from a trespasser — the value the plaintiff assigns the relief in the plaint (subject to revision under s.11); from a licensee — the year's license fee if payable, else the plaintiff's valuation.
  7. 7(vii) Enforcing a right of pre-emption — according to the market value of the land, building or garden claimed.
  8. 7(viii) Partition — according to the market value of the share claimed by an excluded coparcener/co-owner.
  9. 7(ix) Interest of an assignee of land-revenue — fifteen times the net profits for the year before the plaint.
  10. 7(x) Setting aside an attachment — the amount for which the land or interest was attached, unless that exceeds the land's value, in which case fee follows a possession suit for that land.
  11. 7(xi) Redemption or foreclosure of a mortgage — according to the principal money secured by the mortgage instrument.
  12. 7(xii) Specific performance — of sale: the consideration; of mortgage: the amount secured; of lease: the fine/premium plus the first year's rent; of an award: the value of the property in dispute.
  13. 7(xiii) Landlord–tenant suits (counterpart lease, rent enhancement, delivery of lease, recovery from a tenant holding over, contesting ejectment, recovering illegally-ejected occupancy, abatement of rent) — according to the annual rent for the year before the plaint.

2. How the fee is arrived at

Rates are those substituted in Schedule I, Article 1 by West Bengal Act XIX of 2002 (w.e.f. 28.10.2002) — the slab increment narrows as the valuation rises (₹100 per ₹10,000 above ₹3,00,000), and the fee is capped at ₹50,000 once the valuation reaches ₹35,02,000.

Schedule I, Article 1 — Table of Rates as substituted by West Bengal Act XIX of 2002 ▸
Exceeds (₹)But does not exceed (₹)Proper fee (₹)
Built from Section 7 (Computation of fees) of the West Bengal Court-Fees Act, 1970, and the Schedule I, Article 1 Table of Rates as substituted by section 3 of the West Bengal Court-Fees (Amendment) Act, 2002 (West Bengal Act XIX of 2002), in force from the 28th of October, 2002, which replaced the original 1970 rates and raised the ceiling on a plaint or memorandum of appeal to ₹50,000. Valuation is always subject to the Court's power under Section 11 to revise an under- or over-stated value, and to any special provision in the plaint's governing statute. Verify the figures — and check for any later amendment — before filing.