Chapter VI OF THE MODE OF LEVYING FEES

All fees shall be charged and collected under this Act at the rate in force on the date on which the document chargeable to court-fee is or was presented.

1[37. Collection of fees by stamps or e-payment.- All fees referred to in section 3 or chargeable under this Act shall be collected by stamps or e-payment].

The stamps used to denote any fees chargeable under this Act shall be impressed or adhesive or partly impressed or partly adhesive, as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette from time to time, direct.

The state Government may, from time to time, make rules for regulating-

1. (a) the supply of stamps to be used under this Act ;
2. (b) the number of stamps to be used for denoting any fee chargeable under this Act ;
3. (c) the renewal of damaged or spoiled stamps, 1[* * *] ;
4. (d) the keeping accounts of all stamps used under this Act, 2[(e) the manner of payment of court-fee and refund thereof by e-payment] : Provided that in the case of stamps used under section 3 in the High Court, such rules shall be made, with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of such Court. All such rules shall be published in the Official Gazette, and shall thereupon have the force of law.

No document which ought to bear a stamp under this Act shall be any validity, unless and until it is properly stamped. But, if any such document is through mistake or inadvertence received, filed or used in any Court or office without being properly stamped, the presiding Judge or the head of the office, as the case may be, or, in the case of the High Court, any Judge of such Court, may, if he thinks fit, order that such document be stamped as he may direct; and, on such document being stamped accordingly, the same and every proceeding relative thereto shall be as valid as if it had been properly stamped in the first instance.

Where any such document is amended in order merely to correct a mistake and to make it conform to the original intention of the parties, it shall not be necessary to impose a fresh stamp.

No document requiring a stamp under this Act shall be filed or acted upon in any proceeding in any Court or office until the stamp has been cancelled. Such officer as the Court or the head of office may from time to time appoint shall, on receiving any such document, forthwith effect such cancellation by punching out the figure-head so as to leave the amount designated on the stamp untouched, and the part removed by punching shall be burnt or otherwise destroyed : 1[Provided that, where court-fee is paid by e-payment, the officer competent to cancel stamp shall verify the genuineness of the payment and after satisfying himself that the court-fee is paid, shall lock the entry in the computer and make an endorsement under his signature on the document that the court-fee is paid and the entry is locked].