High Court Patan Rules on Court Fee Dispute Between Buddha Air and Archana Basnet

Kathmandu. High Court Patan has ordered that the dispute regarding 'court fee' in the case between Buddha Air Pvt. Ltd. and Archana Basnet does not need to be decided separately for now. The joint bench of Justices Geetaprasad Timisina and Swikriti Parajuli clarified that the dispute will be settled at the time of the final decision of the main case.

High Court Patan has refused to make an immediate decision on the issue of paying 'court fee' in the long-standing legal battle between Buddha Air Pvt. Ltd. and shareholder Archana Basnet. The court stated, 'There is no dispute that court fees are applicable in cases where the claimed amount is specified.'

However, as the proceedings of this case have progressed significantly, there is no need to make a separate decision on the fee issue at this time. The court has struck off Buddha Air's application, stating that the final decision on who will pay how much fee will be made at the time of the final verdict of the case.

Archana Basnet and other defendants had filed a case against Buddha Air under the Company Act, claiming an amount of approximately 5 billion rupees. Despite claiming billions, they initially tried to proceed with the case by paying only 1,000 rupees as court fee. However, Buddha Air argued that 'claiming billions but paying a meager fee to the state' and insisted on paying the full fee.

What is the Supreme Court's Precedent

In the case of Ram Pravesh Sah versus High Court Janakpur, the Supreme Court has established the following principle. The justice provided by the court is a type of service, and the 'court fee' is the service charge for that service.

Therefore, the party registering the case must pay this fee. Furthermore, if a specific amount (principal) is claimed in the case, the fee must be paid based on that amount. It has been stated that this cannot be considered a criminal case.

Moreover, the precedent has been established that only if the financial condition of the person filing the case is extremely weak and they cannot afford the fee, the court may allow them to pay later. However, capable companies or individuals do not receive exemption from fees.