Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
Mohan M. Shantanagoudar and Vineet Saran

JUDGMENT

Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, J.

1. These special leave petitions arise out of common order and judgment of the High Court of Madras (hereinafter, 'High Court') dated 8.01.2020. By the impugned judgment, the High Court allowed Civil Miscellaneous Petitions Nos. 26742 & 26743 of 2019 filed by the Respondent No. 1 herein praying for refund of the court fees deposited by him in Appeal Suits Nos. 876/2012 and 566/2013 filed by him before the High Court.

2. The facts leading to these petitions are as follows: Respondent No. 1 purchased two vehicles from Respondent No. 2 vide two separate hire purchase agreements (hereinafter, 'Agreement-I' and 'Agreement-II'; collectively, 'the Agreements') dated 10.06.1996, under which Respondent No. 1 was the principal debtor/hirer, and Respondents Nos. 3 and 4 were the sureties to the Agreements. As per the terms of the Agreements, Respondent No. 1 was to pay a sum of Rs. 10,08,000/- in stipulated instalments to Respondent No. 2 for each of the two vehicles.

3. It suffices to note for our purposes that Respondent No. 2 brought Original Suits Nos. 66/2003 and 76/2003 against Respondents Nos. 1, 3 and 4 before the Additional District Munsif Court, Coimbatore (hereinafter, 'Munsif Court') and the Additional District and Sessions Court, Coimbatore (hereinafter, 'District Court') respectively. In the two suits, Respondent No. 2 alleged non-payment of Rs. 6,64,000/- and Rs. 5,97,200/- towards the instalments stipulated in Agreement-I and Agreement-II respectively, and sought recovery of the balance amounts along with interest thereon. Both the Original Suits Nos. 66/2003 and 76/2003 were partly decreed by the Munsif Court and District Court, by judgments dated 13.02.2004 and 31.01.2005 respectively.

4. Aggrieved, Respondent No. 1 preferred Appeal Suits Nos. 876/2012 and 566/2013 before the High Court, against the judgments in O.S. No. 66/2003 and O.S. No. 76/2013, respectively. While the appeals were still pending consideration before the High Court, the parties entered into a private out-of-court settlement, thus resolving the controversy between them. In view of this, Respondent No. 1 filed a memo before the High Court, seeking permission to withdraw Appeal Suits Nos. 876/2012 and 566/2013. Such permission, along with a d........