Court fee hike: Body of lawyers moves HC

Kochi: The Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA) has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) before the high court challenging the steep hike in court fees and the imposition of ad valorem fees without any upper limit, introduced by the state govt.
A division bench comprising chief justice Nitin Jamdar and justice S Manu is scheduled to consider the matter on Tuesday. The petition alleges that the state govt has increased the court fees unreasonably and exorbitantly through an amendment to the Kerala Court Fees and Suit Valuation Act, 1959, effected via the Kerala Finance Act, 2025. The petitioners said the revised court fees show an increase ranging from 400% to as high as 9,900%, which severely hampers the public's access to justice. The govt has neither provided any objective justification nor cited a specific purpose for the steep hike and the move is said to run contrary to the recommendations of both Law Commission of India and Kerala Law Reform Commission.
The petition also points to the finance minister's budget speech, which stated that the revision was long overdue as fees had not been updated in two decades and cited inflation and infrastructure improvement demands — including those relating to the Advocates' and Advocates' Clerks' Welfare Funds — as reasons. However, the petitioners argue that no data or report justifying the exponential hike has been made publicly available and the report referred to by the minister remains unpublished. Furthermore, they contend that the increase does not align proportionately with inflation, if at all.
The association has urged the court to declare the amendment unconstitutional, arguing that it imposes unreasonable restrictions on the fundamental right of citizens to access the justice delivery system. An interim stay on the implementation of the amended provisions has also been sought.