Judgment :- 1. The common question in these proceedings is whether an affidavit filed by a debtor of an insolvent banking company under R.15 of the Travancore-Cochin Banking Company R.1955, in reply to a list filed by the liquidator under S.45-D (2) of the Banking Companies Act 1949, wherein he claims that money is due to him from the company and that an account should be taken, is a written statement pleading a set off within the meaning of item 1 of the schedule I to the Travancore-Cochin Court-fees Act II of 1125 and liable to court fee as such. I do not think it is, even if we assume that such an affidavit is a written statement. For, under S.529 of the Companies Act 1956, read with S.47 of the Kerala Insolvency Act, in the case of mutual dealings an account has to be taken and only the balance of the account can be claimed by the one party or the other, as the case may be. It is only this balance if it is in favour of the company, that the liquidator is entitled to claim, and an affidavit by a debtor claiming credit for money due to him and asking for an account to be taken is not a written statement claiming a set off under 0.8, R.6 C. P. C, (the law having already effected a set off) but is analogous to a written statement by a defendant in a suit on accounts claiming credit for sums not allowed by the plaintiff. Now when the affidavit is filed in answer to a claim made against the debtor, can it be regarded as a petition to the court. I therefore hold that such affidavits are not liable to court fee.