Indian Stamp Act, 1899

CHAPTER IV

INSTRUMENTS NOT DULY STAMPED

Examination and impounding of instruments.

33. (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 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 [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 (5 of 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 Cou .... To read the full section download the app from Google Play store Latest Job Openings View all Featured 28 March 2026 CA Final Ashok Amol & Associates New Delhi CA Final View Details Featured ARTICLESHIP 19 March 2026 Article Assistant Gupta Sachdeva & Co. Chartered Accountants New Delhi CA Final View Details Featured 28 March 2026 Accountant Ashok Amol & Associates New Delhi B.Com View Details Featured 13 April 2026 GST CONSULTANCY Abhishek G Agrawal & Co. Korba CA Final View Details Featured 29 April 2026 Manager- Finance and Compliance Naveen Fintech Pvt Ltd Kolkata CA Inter View Details Featured 14 April 2026 GST CONSULTANT Abhishek G Agrawal & Co. Korba CA Final View Details Share  Facebook  Twitter  Linkedin  Reddit  Email  Whatsapp  Gmail  Pocket  Print  Pinterest  PDF  Translate Whatsapp Groups GST Income Tax CA Final CA Inter CAclubindia Login at CAclubindia CAclubindia India's largest network for finance professionals User Name Password Remember Me Forgot Password ? Alternatively, you can log in using: Login with Google Don't have an account? Register Now click here to register