Court proceedings will cost more; electricity charges may go up

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The tariff of power producers including KSEB in the state has been increased. The hike from 1.2 paise to 15 paise per unit and the tax on each unit sold from 6 paise to 10 paise may result in an increase in electricity rates in the state. The electricity tariff was increased in the state three months ago. A fuel cess of 19 paise per unit is also levied apart from that. The new additional charge by the government is in addition to this. There is concern that the government's tax reforms will result in an increase of nearly 20 paise.

Gallonage fee on Indian-made foreign liquor sold in the state has been increased to Rs 10 per litre. The bottom line is that this should not be taken from consumers, but there are concerns that this too will come as a price hike. At present liquor is bought in Kerala by paying 251% tax, excise duty and cess. Gallonage fee is an amount that the brewing company has to pay out of profits. At present it was 5 paise and this has been increased to 10 rupees.

Court proceedings will also cost more. Judicial Court Fee Stamp Rates will be revised. With that, if you go to court with a case, you will have to spend money whether you win or lose the case. The court fee which was 10 rupees in the state has been increased to 200 rupees.

Court fee has been increased to one thousand rupees for an appeal filed in the Sessions Court and an amount equal to half of the court fee incurred by the appellant in the trial court in the appeal filed in the High Court. The court fee has been increased to one-tenth of the check amount in a revision petition before the High Court and Rs.1500 in a revision petition filed by the accused against the conviction.

Currently, the fee for filing property-related cases under 71C of the Family Courts Act, 1984 in the family courts of the state is Rs.50. The finance minister informed that this will also be revised in due course. The fair value of land and documentation costs have also increased. This will lead to an increase in the cost of land registration. It has also been decided to impose land tax on flat dwellers.

Additional income

Electricity Tariff: 24 crores

Electricity duty: 101.41 crores

Court costs increased: 50 crores

Liquor Gallonage Charge: 200 crores

Modification of registration: 50 crores

Stamp modification: 40 crores

Stamp duty: 2 crores

Fair value revision: 100 crores

Documents of self-declared building, cost: 100 crores

Sand mining: 200 crores

Sales of vehicle scrapping: 200 crores

Total: 1067 Crores