What do you understand by suits “in forma pauperis”? Write a short note on the provisions for permitting such a suit to be instituted.

Question: What do you understand by suits “in forma pauperis”? Write a short note on the provisions for permitting such a suit to be instituted.

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Answer

In forma pauperis is a Latin legal term meaning "in the character or manner of a pauper". It refers to the ability of an indigent person to proceed in court without payment of the usual fees associated with a lawsuit or appeal.

An application to sue in forma pauperis is but a method prescribed by the code for the institution of a suit by a pauper without payment of the fee prescribed by the Court-fees Act. If the claim made by the applicant that he is a pauper is not established the application may fail.

The suit commences from the moment an application for permission to sue in forma pauperis as required by Order 33 of the Code of Civil Procedure is presented. Provisions of O.33 of the Code of Civil Procedure negative the idea of anybody but an actual pauper, a real pauper, a man without means, being permitted to maintain or defend a suit in forma pauperis and that the privilege of maintaining a pauper suit is a personal privilege granted to people who have no means of carrying on or continuing litigation. The Consideration of the question on which admittedly there is a divergence of judicial view requires initially the consideration of the nature of the right or the privilege which is provided under Order 33 of the Code of Civil Procedure. [Jugal Kishore v. Dhanno Devi, (Dead) By L.Rs 1973 AIR 2508]

Rule 1 thereof provides that subject to the provisions in Order 33, any suit may be instituted by a pauper, and in the Explanation to Rule 1, it is stated that a person is a 'pauper' when he is not possessed of sufficient means to enable him to pay the fee prescribed by law for the plaint in such suit, or where no such fee is prescribed when he is not entitled to property worth one hundred rupees other than his necessary wearing apparel and the subject-matter of the suit.

The document or application to sue in forma pauperis which is filed by a pauper under Order 33, Rule 1, is a composite document as held in Brahamaramba v. Seetharamayya, AIR 1947 Mad 405. It is a plaint and it is in addition an application seeking permission of the Court to sue the opponents without payment of Court-fee on the ground that the applicant is not possessed of sufficient means to pay the requisite court-fee. The stage of proceeding with the suit arises only after the Court is satisfied that the application for permission to sue in forma pauperis is well-founded. Initially, therefore, the inquiry made by the Court is not with regard to the merits of the claim made in the plaint but the inquiry is made with regard to the incapacity alleged by the plaintiff to pay the requisite Court-fee is over, the occasion for proceeding with the suit does not arise of fictionally treating the application as a plaint in the suit.

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