(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 of his duties, 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 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 hot think fit so to do, any instrument coming before him in the course of any proceeding other than a proceeding under Sections 125 to 128 and Sections 145 to 148 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Act No. 2 of 1974).(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, the State Government may, in cases of doubt, determine what officers shall be deemed to be public offices and who shall be deemed to be persons in charge of public officers.(4)Where deficiency in stamp duty is noticed from the copy of an instrument, the Collector may suo motu or on a reference from any Court, or from the Commissioner of Stamps, or an Additional Commissioner of Stamps, or a Deputy Commissioner of Stamps, or an Assistant Commissioner of Stamps call for the original instrument for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the adequacy of the duty paid thereon, and the instrument so produced before the Collector shall be deemed to have been produced, or come before him in the performance of his functions.(5)In case the instrument is not produced within the period specified by the Collector, he may require payment of deficit stamp duty, if any, together with penalty under Section 45 on the copy of the instrument:Provided that no action under sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) shall be taken after a period of four years from the date of execution of the instrument:Provided further that with the prior permission of the State Government an action under sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) may be taken after a period of four years but before a period of eight years from the date of execution of the instrument.
