Civil Procedure Code: Costs in Civil Suits

The concept of ‘costs in civil suits’ is like an old wine in a new bottle. Although owing to its contemporary adoption, the term may give an impression of a novel concept, it still retains its connotations to the age-old common law. Costs are statutory allowances paid to the winning party as a reimbursement for their expenditure in the conduction of the suit. This leads us to the question of the significance of the imposition of costs in the Indian context. Why do we need them? The judges have undisputedly an extreme workload of cases, with numerous judgments pending. Hence, imposing costs to civil suits deters the filing of bogus suits and prevents any unnecessary delays in the justice system. In this paper, we will dwell on the provisions of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC), of 1902. Then, we will dwell on the kinds of costs along with their principles. Next, we will look at the problems of the current civil code, with special emphasis on the cost cap of Rs. 3000 as compensation for vexatious suits. We will then swing into the solutions suggested in the 240th Law Commission Report for the imposition of realistic costs for the vexatious suits. Lastly, we will do a comparative analysis by juxtaposing the United Kingdom’s Civil Procedure Rule of 1998 with India’s Civil Code of 1902.