Section 42

Chapter IV: INSTRUMENTS NOT DULY STAMPED 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 public office, except an officer of police, before whom any instrument, chargeable, in his opinion, with duly is produced or comes in the performance of 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 itis stamped with a stamp of the value and descriptidn required by the law in force in India, when such instruments 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 (V of 1898); (b) in the case of a Judge of a High Court, the duty of the 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) the State Government may determine what offices shall be deemed to be public offices; and (b) the State Government may determine who shall be deemed to be persons in charge of public offices. Comments and Case-law [An arbitration award is required to be made on stamped paper by Article 12. This defect in the arbitration award is curable under section 33 and it cannot be said that section 35 of the Stamp Act imposes a permanent bar on the powers of the court to make such an arbitration award a rule of the court, even if the defect 1. Ins.by Bihar Act 6 of 1937 (from 14,1938) 2. See now the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) | Section 42: Endorsement of instruments on which duty has been paid under sections 35, 40 or 41 42. Endorsement of instruments on which duty has been paid under sections 35, 40 or 41.—(1) When the duty and penalty (if any) leviable in respect of any instrument have been paid under section 35, section 40 or section 41, the person admitting such instrument in evidence or the Collector as the case may be, shall certify by endorsement thereon that the proper duty or, as the case may be, the proper duty and penalty (stating the amount of each) have been levied in respect thereof, and the name and residence of the person paying them. (2) Every instrument so endorsed shall thereupon be admissible in evidence, and may be registered and acted upon and authenticated as if it had been duly stamped, and shall be delivered on his application in this behalf to the person from whose possession it came into the hands of the officer impounding it, or as such person may direct: Provided that— (a) no instrument and a penally under section 35, month from the date of such impounding, further detention is necessary and has not cance which has been admitted in evidence upon payment of duly shall be so delivered before the expiration of one or if (he Collector has certified that its Hled such certificate; Soahira, 1908 (Act § of 1908). Sch. 1, O. XIll, R. 9.