THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE A.GOPAL REDDY and THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SAMUDRALA GOVINDARAJULU WRIT PETITION No.22961 of 2006 ORDER (Per the Hon’ble Sri Justice A. Gopal Reddy): In this writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner challenges the administrative Circular dated 01.12.2005 issued by this Court as per the resolution of its Rule Committee, requiring the advance deposit of Rs.15/- towards future supply of carbon copies, as ultra vires, unconstitutional and illegal. It is stated that the first petitioner herein along with some others filed W.P.No.20331 of 2004, in which, they filed W.P.M.P.No.20351 of 2006 seeking interim direction to respondents 4 to 7 therein to immediately take them back to duty or to pay subsistence allowance regularly. When the said W.P.M.P was presented, the Registry raised an objection that the petitioners therein have not paid the requisite amount of Rs.15/- in advance, as per the High Court’s Circular dated 01.12.2005, for furnishing carbon copy of interim or final orders, if any, that may be passed in the petition. Since the petitioners therein declined to deposit the said amount, the matter was placed before the Court and the Court held that as long as the Rule is in operation, the petitioner(s) have to comply with the same, and deposit the required amount towards supply of carbon copy. At that stage, the learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners therein were ready to deposit the amount of Rs.15/-, without prejudice to their right to question the Circular dated 01.12.2005. Hence, the office objections were upheld and the petitioners therein were directed to deposit the amount as directed by the Registry towards carbon copy fee. Challenging the constitutional validity of the said Circular dated 01.12.2005, the first petitioner in the above said writ petition along with two others, who are Advocates, filed this writ petition. It is stated that Chapter XV i.e., Rules 188-204 of the Civil Rules of Practice, as also Rule 70 of the Appellate Side Rules of the High Court provide that the persons shall apply for copies on passing interim orders, but by the impugned Circular no such option is left to the parties, and they have to deposit the amount of Rs.15/- in advance irrespective of the fact whether they require the carbon copy of the order or not. Further, instead of fixing the stamp duty, the amount is being received in cash, without issuing any receipt and maintaining any record, and simply acknowledging the payment of the amount on the docket, which leads to misappropriation. It is also stated that the High Court lacks jurisdiction to issue the impugned Circular. List I (Union List) item 77 clearly indicates that ‘fees taken therein’ (i.e., in Supreme Court) falls in the domain of Parliament’s power and item 78 excludes power of legislating on fees taken in High Court from the parliamentary sphere. Whereas, item 3 in the State List (List II) clearly speaks of ‘fees taken in all courts except the Supreme Court’. Section 75 of the Andhra Pradesh Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1956 (for short ‘the Act’), which deals with the ‘Power of High Court to make rules’ does nowhere speak of Rules for court fee, but only mentions about Rules for process fee and there too, such Rules require confirmation by the State Government and publication in the official gazette. Moreover, Article 11(a) of Schedule II to that Act clearly indicates Fifty paise court fee to be paid on presenting the application or petition for a copy or translation of any judgment, decree or any proceedings etc. The actual copying fees are dealt with under Civil Rules of Practice or Appellate Rules of High Court. Sections 121 to 131 of the Code of Civil Procedure provide procedure for formation and function of the Rule Committee of the High Court, but do not empower to levy the Court fee. Any Rules made by the High Court are subject to approval by the State Government and publication in the official gazette and would have the force of law only from the date as mentioned in the gazette publication or from such date as may be specified therein. Therefore, the impugned Circular is violative of provisions of Sections 121 to 131 of the Code of Civil Procedure and ultra vires of the Act and liable to be set aside. The Registrar General of the sixth respondent-High Court of Andhra Pradesh filed a counter-affidavit stating that the carbon copies of the judgments/orders on payment of requisite fee are being furnished for enabling the advocates and parties to know the result of the cases, if the counsel/party applies for the same; that this supply of carbon copies is in addition to the issue of certified copies; and that the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, under its Rule making power, has made the Writ Proceeding Rules under Article 225 of the Constitution of India, the Appellate Side Rules under the different enactments viz., 1) The Letters Patent of the High Court of Judicature at Madras, 1865, (2) The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and the Acts amending the same, (3) The Constitution of India and (4) The Andhra State Act, 1953 etc., and Standing Orders of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, 2004 for regulating the conduct of the official work of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, both on the administrative side and judicial side. So far as the supply of carbon copies of the judgments/orders is concerned, Standing Order No.362, among other things, prescribes the rates for issue of copies i.e., Rs.2/- per page for Xerox copy and Rs.3/- per page for Typed copy. The same amount was being collected by way of affixture of court fee labels on the carbon copy applications. The supply of carbon copy after collecting necessary Court fee labels is being followed for the convenience of the litigant public. The Andhra Pradesh High Court Advocates’ Association through its letter dated 11.11.2004 addressed to the Registrar (Judicial) have requested as under: “Please refer to our letter referred above. As we have received complaints from our learned members that the copy applications filed after the orders passed by the Hon’ble Judges are not been put up in the respective case files, due to which, they are not able to get the orders. Therefore, we request you to obtain necessary orders from the Hon’ble Chief Justice with regard to dispense with filing of C.C. forms and permit us to pay the said amount for carbon copies/certified copies at the time of filing fresh cases/petitions so that the said problem can be solved.” On receipt of the aforesaid letter, the matter was placed before the Hon’ble Chief Justice and the Hon’ble Chief Justice has directed the Registry to place the matter before the Rule Committee. On placing the matter before the Rule Committee of the High Court, the Rule Committee in its meeting held on 10.08.2005 resolved to direct the Registrar (Judicial) to circulate a note to Hon’ble Judges of the Committee. Accordingly, the Registrar (Judicial) circulated a note to the Hon’ble Judges of the Rule Committee and the Rule Committee in its meeting held on 25.10.2005 resolved as under: “Considered and resolved that the report of the Registrar (Judicial) is accepted. An amount of Rs.50/- shall be deposited at the time of filing of the case towards supply of carbon copies of all the interim orders passed in the cases without insisting on filing of any C.C form.” It is further stated that a circular was issued by the Registry on 10.11.2005 directing the Advocates to deposit an amount of Rs.50/- at the time of filing of the case for supply of C.C forms of all the interim orders passed and that they need not file C.C Forms any more with effect from 14.11.2005. Thereafter, the A.P.High Court Advocates’ Association has addressed a letter to the Hon’ble Chairman of the Rule Committee on 15.11.2005 stating that the amount of Rs.50/- directed to be deposited by the Advocates is exorbitant and requested to reduce the same to Rs.15/-. Hence, the matter was once again placed before the Rule Committee and the Rule Committee in its meeting held on 23.11.2005 resolved as under: “It is resolved that in modification of the earlier resolution dated 25.10.2005 on subject No.3 that an amount of Rs.15/- without carbon copy form shall be deposited at the time of filing of the case towards supply of carbon copies of all the interim orders and final orders. In case if the interim order or final order exceeds the value of Rs.15/-, the advocate shall make good the deficit of the stamp and take the copy.” Subsequently, the Secretary of the Advocates’ Association requested to take necessary steps to get the Rule amended for payment of Rs.15/- at the time of filing of the case in the form of Court- Fee Stamps, instead of cash, to which, the Circular dated 14.10.2008 was issued by the Registrar General informing the Advocates to deposit the sum of Rs.15/- for furnishing copies of interim order/final order, either in the form of cash or by affixture of Court-Fee Stamps. The said Circular puts an end to the allegations made by the petitioner that though cash is taken, no receipt is issued to the payee but with some stamp on the docket of the petition in acknowledgment of payment. The fee collected for supply of copies of judgments/orders is not in the nature of court fee but it is only in the nature of administrative charges for defraying the expenses incurred in supplying the carbon copies, which is an additional facility given to the advocates and parties apart from supplying the certified copies. The amount collected towards carbon copy charges are being credited to the appropriate Head of the State Government account. It is further stated that in view of advancement of technology and introduction of high-end copying machines and with a view to supply the copies of the judgments within a short time to the advocates and the parties, the High Court and all the subordinate courts in the State are issuing Xerox copies of the judgments immediately after pronouncement of the judgment by the Hon’ble Judges without resorting to typing again the copies of judgments on manual typewriters, which will only delay in issuance of copies of judgments. For the said purpose, sufficient number of copying machines have been provided in the High Court and all the subordinate courts in the State, and therefore, prayed for dismissal of the writ petition. A reply affidavit has been filed by the petitioner reiterating the very same contentions and written arguments. In the written arguments, it is contended that the impugned circular is only an administrative instruction and is not a Rule binding on the advocates or litigant public and it has no force of law; that even assuming that it is a Rule, which has not been notified with the approval of the Government and amounts to levying of tax under Article 265 and that Section 75 of the Andhra Pradesh Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1956, which confers power of the High Court to make Rule, does nowhere speak of Rules for court fee but only mentions about Rules for process fees and that too with the approval of the State Government and publication in the Official Gazette. It is not necessary for us to go into all the contentions advanced by the learned counsel for the petitioner in the written arguments. Through Gazette Notification dated 21.04.2003 certain amendments to the Appellate Side Rules were notified under Rule 70 (12)(c) and copying fee for each page has been prescribed at the rates mentioned therein. Rule 70 (12)(c) does not authorise collection of Rs.15/- towards future supply of carbon copies either in the form of stamps or deposit by the amount. On the request of the Advocates’ Association for supply of carbon copies, a note was put up before the Acting Chief Justice, pending consideration of the Rule Committee, and as an interim measure a Circular was issued leaving open to the Advocates either to follow the old procedure or the procedure prescribed as per Circular dated 20.10.2005. Rule 70 (12)(c) of Appellate side Rule had not been amended suitably for collection of Rs.15/- towards supply of carbon copies authorising the Registry. In the absence of the amendment of the Rules, the payment of Rs.15/- towards supply of carbon copies can be only optional to the advocates, who required the carbon copies, without making any copy application. Therefore, we hold that if the advocates do not want carbon copy of the order, the Registry is under no obligation to supply the same to them and the carbon copy can be supplied to the advocates only on compliance of Rule 70 (12)(c) of the Appellate side Rules. With the above direction, the writ petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to cost. A.GOPAL REDDY, J SAMUDRALA GOVINDARAJULU, J Date: 19 .. 03 ..2010 va