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TMI Blog1961 (2) TMI 64X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t court. The respondent filed a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution praying that the imposition of stamp duty by the Collector of Sitapur, of ₹ 85,595/7/- and a penalty of ₹ 5/- was against law and could not be realized against him and prayed that the order be quashed.,, On September 12, 1948, the, respondent executed a wakf by oral recitation of Sigha and then it was written on a stamped paper which was signed by the respondent and attested by, Witness. On September 15, 1948, it was presented to the Collector for his opinion under s. 31 as to the duty chargeable. As the Collector himself was in doubt, he referred the matter to the Board of Revenue which, after a fairly long time, held that the document was liable to dut ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... llector may in each case direct, the Collector shall determine the duty (if any) with which, in his judgment, the instrument is chargeable. It is admitted that the document in dispute was submitted to the Collector for his opinion under a. 31 and the opinion of the Collector was sought as to what the duty should be. Under s. 32 of the Act when such an instrument is brought to the Collector, under a. 31 and he determines that it was already fully stamped or he determines the duty which is payable on such a document and that duty is paid, the Collector shall certify by endorsement on the instrument presented that full duty with which it is chargeable has been paid and upon such endorsement being made, the instrument shall be deemed to be ful ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... poses of this section, in case of a doubt,- (a) the collecting Government may determine what offices shall be deemed to be public offices; and (b) the collecting Government may determine who shall be deemed to be persons in charge of public offices. The decision of this appeal depends upon the interpretation to be put upon the words before whom any instrument chargeable........................ is produced or comes in the performance of his functions . Dealing with these words the High Court held:- With all respect, therefore, we agree that the learned Judges deciding Chuni Lal Burman's (1) case took a correct view of the words is produced or comes in the performance of his functions used in Section 33 of the Act to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the document to the person seeking his opinion but if the document is scribed on a stamped paper or unstamped paper and is executed then different consequences follow. In the latter case it was submitted that under s. 33 the Collector is required to impound the document if he finds that it is not duly stamped. On the other hand it was submitted on behalf of the respondent that on his giving his opinion the Collector becomes functus officio and can take no action under s. 33. It is these two rival contentions of the parties that require to be decided in this case. After an inordinately long delay, the Collector determined the amount of duty payable and impounded the document. Power to impound is given in s. 33 of the Act. Under that secti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd the opinion of the Collector is sought, he has to give his opinion and return it with his opinion to the person seeking his opinion. The language in regard to exe- cuted and unstamped documents is no different and the powers and duties of the Collector in regard to those instruments are the same, that is, when he is asked to give his opinion, he has to determine the duty with which, in his judgment, the instrument is chargeable and there his duties and powers in regard to that matter end. Then follows s. 32. Under that section the Collector has to certify by endorsement on the instrument brought to him under s. 31 that full duty has been paid, if the instrument is duly stamped, or it is unstamped and the duty is made up, or it is not cha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the instrument will be treated as if it was duly stamped from the very beginning. But if he does not want to proceed any further than seeking the determination of the duty payable then no consequence will follow and an executed document is in the same position as an instrument which is unexecuted and unstamped and after the determination of the duty the Collector becomes functus officio and the provisions of s. 33 have no application. The provisions of that section are a subsequent stage when something more than mere asking of the opinion of the Collector is to be done. Our attention was drawn to the observations of Rankin C. J. in Be Cooke and Kelly (1) but those observations are obiter as the High Court held that the reference under s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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