19Exemption of certain documents

Nothing contained in this Act shall render the following documents chargeable with any fee:

(i) Power-of-attorney to institute or defend a suit when executed ¹ [by a member of any of the Armed Forces of the Union] not in civil employment.

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(iii) Written statements called for by the Court after the first hearing of a suit.

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(v) Plaints in suits tried by ⁴ village Munsifs in the Presidency of Fort St. George.

(vi) Plaints and processes in suits before District Panchayats in the same residency.

(vii) Plaints in suits before Collectors under Madras Regulation 12 of 1816.

(viii) Probate of a will, letters of administration, ⁵ [and, save as regards debts and securities a certificate under Bombay Regulation 8 of 1827], where the amount or value of the property in respect of which the probate or letters or certificate shall be granted does not exceed one thousand rupees.

(ix) Application or petition to a Collector or other officer making a settlement of land-revenue, or to a Board of Revenue, or a Commissioner of Revenue, relating to matters connected with the assessment of land or the ascertainment of rights thereto or interests therein, if presented previous to the final confirmation of such settlement.

(x) Application relating to a supply for irrigation of water belonging to Government.

(xi) Application for leave to extend cultivation, or to relinquish land, when presented to an officer of land-revenue by a person holding, under direct engagement with Government, land of which the revenue is settled, but not permanently.

(xii) Application for service of notice of relinquishment of land or of enhancement of rent.

(xiii) Written authority to an agent to distrain.

(xiv) First application (other than a petition containing a criminal charge or information) for the summons of a witness or other person to attend either to give evidence or to produce a document or in respect of the production or filing of an exhibit not being an affidavit made for the immediate purpose of being produced in Court.

(xv) Bail-bonds in criminal cases, recognizances to prosecute or give evidence, and recognizances for personal appearance or otherwise.

(xvi) Petition, application, charge or information respecting any offence when presented, made or laid to or before a police-officer, or to or before the ⁶Heads of Villages or the ⁷Village Police in the territories respectively subject to the Governors in Council of Madras and Bombay.

(xvii) Petition by a prisoner, or other person in duress or under restraint of any Court or its officers.

(xviii) Complaint of a public servant [as defined in the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860)], a municipal officer, or an officer or servant of a Railway Company.

(xix) Application for permission to cut timber in Government forests, or otherwise relating to such forests.

(xx) Application for the payment of money due by Government to the applicant.

(xxi) Petition of appeal against the chaukidari assessment under ⁸Act No. 20 of 1856, or against any municipal tax.

(xxii) Applications for compensation under any law for the time being in force relating to the ⁹ acquisition of property for public purposes.

(xxiii) Petitions presented to the Special Commissioner appointed under ¹⁰Bengal Act No. 2 of 1869 (to ascertain, regulate and record certain tenures in Chota Nagpur.).

[ ¹¹ (xxiv) (Petitions under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872 (15 of 1872), sections 45 and 48.]

STATE AMENDMENT

Orissa

In section 19 of the Court-Fees Act, 1870 (7 of 1870) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act) in clause (viii) for the words" one thousand rupees" the words "two thousand rupees" shall be substituted.

[Vide Orissa Act 11 of 1967, s. 3]