Indian Stamp Act, 1899

33. Examination and impounding of instruments

(1) Every person having by law or consent of parties authority to receive evidence, and every person in charge of a public office, except an officer of police, before whom any instrument, chargeable, in his opinion, with duty, is produced or comes in the performance in his functions shall, if it appears to him that such instrument is not duly stamped, impound the same.

(2) For that purpose every such person shall examine every instrument so chargeable and so produced or coming before him, in order to ascertain whether it is stamped with a stamp of the value and description required by the law in force in ³[India] when such instrument was executed or first executed:

PROVIDED that-

(a) nothing herein contained shall be deemed to require any Magistrate or Judge of a criminal court to examine or impound, if he does not think fit so to do, any instrument coming before him in the course of any proceeding other than a proceeding under Chapter XII or Chapter XXXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898:

(b) in the case of a Judge of a High Court, the duty of examining and impounding any instrument under this section may be delegated to such officer as the court appoints in this behalf.

(3) For the purposes of this section, in cases of doubt,-

(a) ²⁷[the ⁶[State Government]] may determine what offices shall be deemed to be public offices; and

(b) ²⁷[the ⁶[State Government]] may determine who shall be deemed to be persons in charge of public offices.

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