CHAPTER 9
AUDIT AND CONTROL OF STAMP
REVENUE IN THE PUNJAB
The following instructions for audit
and control of stamp revenue in the Punjab , are issued ( Punjab Government U.O. No. 418-P . F –47-S.,
dated 19th May 1933) by the
Governor in Council sitting with his
Ministers, the High Court of Judicature at Lahore, and the Financial
Commissioners in their judicial capacity, for the guidance of all officers and
courts under their respective control:-
RULES
1.
These rules shall be termed “ The Punjab Stamp Audit
Instructions , 1933”
2.
There shall be appointed stamp auditors for the purpose of
the audit of every document requiring a stamp which is presented to a court of
law other than the High court or a public officer.
3.
The Financial commissioner as the Chief Controlling
Authority will determine the districts within the jurisdiction of each auditor
and fix his head quarters. The auditors shall be under the direct control of
the Commissioner of the division in which they are from time to time operating
and shall be authorised by the collector in writing in the term of section 73
of the Indian Stamp Act.
4.
The auditor shall prepare a bi-monthly programme of his
tour by districts and after obtaining the approval of the Financial
commissioner give due notice to the Collector of the district concerned and the
Commissioner of the division of his forthcoming visit .
The
auditor shall spend the least possible time on travelling and more time on
actual audit work. He shall visit each district in his charge once a quarter
and spend about eight days at the head – quarters of a district and two days at tahsil .
5.
The auditor shall, on visiting a district, audit all fresh
institutions , documents and files pending or otherwise in all courts and
registration and other offices including record rooms. Such inspection shall be
from the date on which the last audit terminated.
The auditor shall, in particular,
see that the stamps used are genuine and have not been removed from files and
re-used.
6.
Every person described in section 33 of the Indian stamp Act and every public official referred to
in section 6 of the curt-fees Act shall maintain a register of stamp
deficiencies in form S.A.2 . The collector
shall , in addition to the register in Form S.A. 2. Maintained by him in
respect of his own court, maintain a
register in Form S.A. 5 of documents
sent to him under section 38 of the stamp Act, These registers shall be
maintained in respect of all deficiencies whether found in audit or
independently .
7.
The auditor shall examine the register in Form No. S.A. 2
maintained by the court or office with a view to seeing that it is properly
maintained and that collections are made not only on account of deficiencies
detected in audit but on account of deficiencies detected independently. He shall
also examine the register maintained by
the collector in Form S.A. 5
8.
Once a case has been decided and consigned to the
record-room , deficient court fees are not recoverable under the existing law’
instances, therefore , of such shout recoveries in court-fees as may be brought
to light in the general record – room
will merely server the purpose of educating readers and moharrirs or taking
disciplinary action against them. But deficiencies in stamp duty may be brought
to the notice of the collector of the district with a view to action under s
action 61 of the stamp Act.
9.
The presiding
officers of all courts and heads of offices will give the auditor access to all
records and accounts, etc., and so far as lies in their power , assist him in
the performance of his duties.
10.
In the course of his audit the auditor shall draw the
attention of presiding officers of courts and heads of offices to documents
before them which are insufficiently stamped, and shall advise them where
necessary in relation to their powers and obligations as follows:-
(i)
under the Stamp Act:--
(a)
To impound documents under section 33 of the stamp Act
(b)
To admit unstamped documents in evidence under section 35
(c)
To dispose of impounded documents under section 38. The
collector may also ask the auditor to
note on cases coming before him under sections 39 to 43 and also seek any other
assistance which he may consider necessary.
(ii)
under the court-fees act.:-
To determine
correct fee leviable on any document .
The auditor , if necessary , will discuss the point at issue with the presiding
officer and , if required by him, be present at the discussion in court before
orders are passed.
11.
The auditor will maintain for each district a register in
Form S.A. 1 , in which he will note as it is discovered , each deficiency in
stamp duty and court fees
12.
After discussion of his rough notes of audit with presiding
officer or the head of office , the auditor will prepare his audit note and
sent typewritten copies to the presiding officer or the head of the officer as
the case may be, to the collector of the district concerned and to the
commissioner of the division. This note will include a statement in Form S.A. 3
of deficiencies discovered, columns 1 and 6 to 15 will be left blank.
13.
The presiding officer of the curt or the head of the office
shall transfer column 2 to 5 of Form S.A. 3 to his register S.A. 2 and proceed
to take necessary action on the note . in cases where he does not agree with the auditor or where he
considers it necessary to hear the party concerned before passing orders, he
shall, where possible, discuss the matter with the auditor . The presiding
officers or head of the office will return the form S.A 3 to the auditor after
completing columns 1,6 to 8 and noting in column 15, the cases , if any, in which
he disagree with the auditor, but without necessarily completing columns 9-14 .
The auditor after completing his register will return the form to the court or
office and report to the collector any case in which the presiding officer or
head of the office has been unable to
take the advice of the auditor . The collector ( if he thinks fit and after
consulting the Financial commissioners, if necessary ) will take action under
section 61 of the Stamp Act, or in the case of court-fees Act, draw the attention
of the appellate court, or take other appropriate action in the case of other
offices.
14.
All courts and offices shall , in addition to the account
of recoveries effected by them in form S.A. 2 , show recoveries effected at the
instance of the stamp auditor in columns 9 and 10 of Forms S.A. 2 and S.A. 3.
Irrecoverable loss of stamp revenue is required to be written off under serial
No. 1 of paragraph 20.17 j, page 185 of
the Book of Financial Powers, and shall be entered in columns 11 and 12 of
Forms S.A. 2 and S.A. 3. They shall also sent to the auditor at the end of each
month, their copies of form S.A. 3 so
that he may complete his returns of recoveries made at his instance from time
to time and irrecoverable items written off, after which he will return the
form to the court or office. If the court or office has sent a document to the
collector under section 38 of the Stamp Act, it will have no concern with
columns 9 to 12.
15.
Special attention shall be paid by the auditors to pauper
suits and all their sages carefully watched while they are pending in courts.
After their disposal the auditors shall
draw the attention of the collector to the court-fees realizable, and
shall suggest to him what steps will ensure early realization. When a curt
fails to pass an order for costs, the auditor shall advise the collector to
move the court concerned under order 33 rule 12 , civil Procedure code . The
auditors shall keep a register of all such cases in form S.A. 5
16.
The auditor shall, at the time of his visit to a district,
inspect the applications for grant of refund of the value or renewal of spoilt
and unused court-fee and non judicial stamps and register maintained by the
refund clerk and report the result of his inspection to the collector of the
district
The auditor
shall also inspect the registers of stamp. Vendors and check their stock of
stamps.
17.
The auditor shall bring to the notice of the collector
defects in the vend arrangement and make suggestions where necessary for
improvement of the arrangements .
18.
The auditors shall monthly submit reports by districts to the Assistant secretary to Financial
Commissioners through the collector and commissioner
In these reports the auditor should
give details of the period spent, and of the work done on each day, they should
also state the total number of cases examined by them and note separately for
each district the total number of deficient stamps duty discovered and
recovered at their instance under the following heads:-
(1)
on plaints;
(2)
on copies’
(3)
on applications, etc;
(4)
on process fees;
(5)
on objection petitions;
(6)
on powers of attorney;
(7)
on security bonds , etc ,. Filed in courts;
(8)
on miscellaneous petitions in the English record room ; and
(9)
on document filed by the parties .
The report shall be accompanied by a
statement in form S.A. 4 showing district totals .
19.
In support of their claims for travelling allowance the
auditors will obtain from the presiding officers of courts and collectors a
certificate in form S.A. 6 and attach it to their monthly travelling allowance
bills .
20.
The local Audit Department is relieved of the audit of
stamp duty and court-fees.
A brief account of the work done
under this system shall be included by the Financial commissioners in their
annual note on the stamp Administration.
F.Cs’.
stereo No. 351 (FORM S.A. 1)
District of
___________________________
Register of
stamp deficiencies discovered by auditor ( auditors register)
|
|
BY
COURT OR OFFICE |
BY COLLECTOR |
BY COLLECTOR |
|
|||||||||
|
Amount recovered at the instance of the auditor . |
Amount recovered at the instance of the auditor . |
Amount recovered at the instance of the auditor . |
|
||||||||||
|
SN |
Court or office and name
or presiding officer |
No. of suits |
Brief particulars of suit or case |
Deficiency in stamp duty
or court fees discovered |
State if has been sent to
collector under section 38 of stamp Act. |
Penalty if any under
section 35 of the stamp Act. |
duty |
Penalty if any under
section 35 of the stamp Act. |
Duty |
Penalty if any under
section 35 of the stamp Act. |
Duty |
Penalty |
REMARKS |
(FORM S.A. 2)
District of
_____________ Court or
office___________________
Register of stamp deficiencies to be
maintained by courts and offices
|
|
RECOVERED |
Amount
written off as irrecoverable by competent authority |
BALANCE |
|
||||||||||
|
SL No |
No of suit |
Brief particulars of suit
or case. |
Deficiency in stamp duty
or court fees |
If discovered in audit
state date and serial number in Forms S.A. 3 |
State if has been sent to
collector under section 38 of stamp Act. |
Duty recoverable under
section 35 of the Stamp act or under the court fees act. |
Penalty imposed under section 35 of the stamp Act. |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty(Column 7,9 and 11) |
Penalty ( Column 8,10and 12) |
REMARKS |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RECOVERED |
written off as irrecoverable by competent authority |
BALANCE |
|
||||||||||
|
Serial No. |
No of suit |
Brief particulars of suit or case. |
Deficiency in stamp duty or court fees |
serial number in register S.A. 1 |
State if
sent to collector under section 33 of stamp Act. |
Duty recoverable under section 35 of the Stamp act
or under the court fees act. |
Penalty imposed
under section 35 of the stamp Act. |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty(Column 7,9 and 11) |
Penalty (
Column 8,10and 12) |
REMARKS |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(FORM S.A. 3)
Note of
deficiencies recovered in audit to be submitted to court or office concerned
with his inspection note by the auditor
District of _____________ Court or office___________________
(FORM S.A. 4)
District of _____________ Court or office___________________
Statement showing deficiencies in stamp duty and
court fees discovered by ____________stamp auditor and recoveries made by
courts and collectors of the
____________districts during the month of ___________
(to be
submitted by the auditors to the financial commissioners monthly)
|
|
Total of Columns |
|
Total of columns |
BALANCE |
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|
Deficiencies in court
fee-and stamp duty discovered during the month. |
Deficiencies in court
fee-and stamp duty discovered during the previous month. |
2 & 4 |
3 &
5 |
Recoveries made by courts
and collectors at the instance of the auditor during the month |
Recoveries made during
previous months |
Amount written off as
irrecoverable during the month |
Amount written off as
irrecoverable during the previous month |
8,10,12
& 14 |
9, 11, 13 & 15 |
Colmun 6 column |
|
|
|||||||||
|
District |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Remarks |
|||
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18 |
19 |
20 |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||
(FORM S.A. 5)
District of ______________________________
Register of
deficiencies discovered in stamp audit and dealt with by the collector
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Serial No. |
Serial No. in registers
S.A.I |
Court or office from
which sent . |
Section under which sent |
Nature of deficiency |
If discovered in audit
state serial no. register S.A. 1. |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
DEMAND |
RECOVERED |
WRITTEN OFF AS IRRECOVERABLE |
BALANCE |
||||
|
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
Duty |
Penalty |
|
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
( FORM S.A. 6)
“
Certified that ________________________, Stamp auditor , started audit
in this court / office on _______________________________________________ and
audited the stamp and court – fee accounts of this court or place/office for ____________________days
Place ________________
Dated________________
Signature
of presiding Officer of
court, or
Head Of office.