A woman litigant who files a Petition for grant of Probate of a Will is not exempted from payment of Court Fees, as per Government Notification dated 1st October,1994, duly amended by an explanatory Notification dated 23rd March,2000.
The words 'matrimonial matters' arising in the Government Notification of 23/03/2000, which connote only cases of disputes between the parties to a marriage, cannot be replaced by the wider term 'matrimonial relationship'.
The Notification dated 23/03/2000 is in the form of an amendmentNotification. In view of this, it is pertinent to note the reference made by Deshmukh J. in his judgment of 4/06/2007, to the judgment of the Privy Council in the case of D. R. Fraser & Co. Ltd v. The Minister of National Revenue AIR (36) 1949, wherein the Privy Council has observed that, 'When anamending act alters the language of the principal statute, the alteration must be taken to have been made deliberately'.
c) The 2nd Notification was issued with the intention of changing the then existing situation and if despite the amendment the situation continues to be the same, the amendment would be an exercise in futility.
d) Hence the intention of the Government behind issuing the 2nd Notification is amply clear from plain simple interpretation of the words of the Notificationthemselves, that the term 'property disputes' would be restricted to only those concerning or arising out of matrimonial matters and would hence exclude petitions filed for probate of Wills.B) Interpreting it widely would go beyond the intent of the Government
