Right of appeal is not a matter of procedure and that it is a substantive right. It is also recognized that this right gets vested in the litigants at the commencement of the lis and, therefore, such a vested right cannot be taken away or cannot be impaired or imperilled or made more stringent or onerous by any subsequent legislation unless the subsequent legislation said so either expressly or by necessary intendment. An intention to interfere with or impair or imperil a vested right cannot be presumed unless such intention be clearly manifested by express words or by necessary implication.
Full Text of the Supreme Court Judgment / Order is as follows:-
By amendment in the Income Tax Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘IT Act’) in the year 1998, Section 260A was inserted providing for statutory appeal against the orders passed by the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal. In this very Section, under sub-section (2)(b), court fees on such appeals was also prescribed which was fixed at Rs. 2,000/-. However, sub-section (2)(b) of Section 260A prescribing the aforesaid fee was omitted by amendment carried out in the said Act, with effect from June 01, 1999. It was presumably for the reason that insofar as court fee payable on such appeals are concerned, which are to be filed in the High Court, it is the State Legislature which is competent to legislate in this behalf.
2) In the State of Kerala, the law of court fee is governed by the Kerala Court Fees and Suits Valuation Act, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘1959 Act’). Section 52 thereof relates to the fee payable in appeals. Thus, with the omission of clause (b) of sub-section (2) of Section 260A of the IT Act, fee became payable on such appeals as per Section 52. The State Legislature thereafter amended the 1959 Act by Amendment Act of 2003 and inserted Section 52A therein, which was passed on March 06, 2003. In fact, before that an Ordinance was promulgated on October 25, 2002 which was replaced by the aforesaid Amendment Act, the Act categorically provided that Section 52A is deemed to have come into force on October 26, 2002. As per the amended provision, viz. Section 52A of the 1959 Act, the fee on memorandum of appeals against the order of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal or Wealth Tax Appellate Tribunal is to be paid at the rates specified in sub-item (c) of item (iii) of Article 3 of Schedule II. This sub-item (c) reads as under:
