Kinds of Stamps and the Mode of Using Them
Chapter Sixty-Four
Syllabus topic 4.2, "Kinds of Stamps and Mode of Using Stamps [Sections 10 - 16]"
Pages 339 to 343 of 378
In one line
Duty is paid by means of stamps, which may be adhesive or impressed or paid electronically, and the Act is strict about how a stamp is used, because a stamp used wrongly leaves the document not duly stamped.
In exam wording: section 10 provides that, except as otherwise expressly provided, all duties with which any instrument is chargeable shall be paid, and such payment indicated on the instrument, by means of stamps, according to the provisions of the Act or, where none applies, as the State Government directs by rules.
Section 10: duty is paid by stamps
Sub-section (1) lays down the basic rule and sub-section (2) allows rules regulating, for each kind of instrument, the description of stamps that may be used and, for impressed stamps, the number of stamps.
Sub-section (2-1A), inserted in 2003, requires impressed stamps to bear the stamp and signature with date of the authorised officer of the Treasury, sub-Treasury or General Stamp Office, or of the proper officer appointed by the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority, Superintendent of Stamps or Collector of Stamps, unless the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority does away with the requirement by notification.
Sub-sections (2A) to (2C): franking. The Chief Controlling Revenue Authority may authorise the use of a franking machine for making impressions on instruments to indicate payment of duty, may authorise a person, body or organisation to use one where the volume of instruments makes it necessary in the public interest, and may determine the procedure. This is why duty is commonly paid at a bank counter which franks the document.
Sub-section (3) empowers the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority to specify by notification the instruments in Schedule I in respect of which duty is to be paid in the ways there set out, which is the gateway to the electronic methods.
Sections 10A to 10D: the modern methods
These four sections are what the Act now runs on in practice, and they were the subject of the Maharashtra Stamp (Amendment) Act 2025, which streamlined online payment.
Section 10A: duties to be paid in cash, by demand draft or by pay order. Duty may be paid in cash or by demand draft or pay order into a Government treasury or an authorised bank by a Government-controlled body or person, the payment being certified by endorsement on the instrument.
Section 10B: provides for the certificate of such payment and its effect.
Section 10C: deals with the e-payment of duty, the electronic route by which duty is credited to Government and evidenced.
Section 10D: provides for the electronic secure bank and treasury receipt, commonly called the e-SBTR, and for other electronic evidences of payment, and for the manner in which they are to be used on the instrument.
Kinds of Stamps and the Mode of Using Them
For an examination answer the detail matters less than the structure: duty may be paid by adhesive stamps, by impressed stamps, by franking, in cash or by demand draft, or electronically, and each method has its own evidencing provision.
Sections 11 and 12: adhesive stamps
Section 11: which instruments may use them. Only the instruments mentioned in the articles the section lists may be stamped with an adhesive stamp. Everything else must use another method. So an adhesive stamp is the exception, not the norm.
Section 12: cancellation. Whoever affixes an adhesive stamp to an instrument chargeable with duty which has been executed shall, when affixing it, cancel the same so that it cannot be used again. The section goes on to provide that an instrument bearing an adhesive stamp which has not been so cancelled is, so far as that stamp is concerned, deemed to be unstamped.
This is a trap worth stating plainly: the party may have bought and stuck on a stamp of exactly the right value, and the document is still treated as unstamped because he did not cancel it. Cancellation is what stops the stamp being peeled off and used again, which is why the Act is unforgiving about it.
Sections 13 to 15: impressed stamps and one instrument to a sheet
Section 13: how impressed stamps are used. An instrument on impressed stamped paper must be written so that the stamp appears on the face of the instrument and cannot be used for or applied to any other instrument.
Section 14: only one instrument on the same stamp. No second instrument chargeable with duty shall be written upon a piece of stamped paper upon which an instrument chargeable with duty has already been written.
The proviso allows an endorsement on such an instrument, provided the endorsement is itself duly stamped or not chargeable with duty, where it is made to transfer a right created or evidenced by the instrument, or to acknowledge receipt of money or goods secured by it.
Section 14A deals with instruments written on stamps of the wrong description, in the same spirit.
Section 15: the sanction. Every instrument written in contravention of section 13, 14 or 14A is deemed to be not duly stamped.
Section 15 is what gives the three preceding sections their teeth, and it connects them to section 34 in [Impounding of Instruments, and Admissibility in Evidence]: a document deemed not duly stamped is inadmissible until duty and penalty are paid.
Section 16: denoting duty
Where the duty with which an instrument is chargeable, or its exemption from duty, depends in any manner on the duty actually paid on another instrument, the payment of that other duty shall, on written application to the Collector and on production of both instruments, be denoted upon the first instrument by endorsement under the hand of the Collector, or in such other manner as the State Government prescribes by rules.
Kinds of Stamps and the Mode of Using Them
Section 16 is the machinery that makes sections 4 and 6 workable. A secondary instrument bearing five hundred rupees under section 4, or a counterpart capped at one hundred rupees under the proviso to section 6, is entitled to that concession only because full duty was paid on the principal or original. The denoting endorsement is how that fact is recorded on the face of the secondary document, so that anyone later examining it can see the concession was earned.
A worked example
Devika executes a sale deed of a flat at Kolhapur, and a power of attorney to complete the formalities.
How is the duty on the sale deed paid? By stamps within section 10. In practice it will be by franking at an authorised bank under sub-section (2A), or electronically by an e-SBTR under section 10D, or in cash or by demand draft under section 10A.
May she use an adhesive stamp? Only if the instrument is one of those the articles listed in section 11 allow. A conveyance is not, so she must use another method.
She does affix an adhesive stamp on a document that permits one, but does not cancel it. Under section 12 the instrument is, so far as that stamp is concerned, deemed to be unstamped, notwithstanding that the stamp is of the correct value.
She writes the power of attorney on the unused half of the stamped paper on which the sale deed is written. Section 14 forbids a second instrument chargeable with duty on the same stamped paper, and section 15 deems the instrument not duly stamped.
She instead endorses on the sale deed a receipt for the balance of the price. Permitted by the proviso to section 14, the endorsement being one acknowledging receipt of money secured by the instrument, provided it is itself duly stamped or not chargeable.
The power of attorney bears five hundred rupees under section 4. To prove that the concession was earned, she applies in writing to the Collector under section 16, produces both instruments, and obtains an endorsement denoting on the power of attorney that full duty was paid on the sale deed.
What it does NOT mean
Adhesive stamps are not generally available. Only the instruments section 11 lists may use them.
A correct stamp is not enough. An uncancelled adhesive stamp leaves the instrument deemed unstamped so far as that stamp is concerned.
Kinds of Stamps and the Mode of Using Them
Two documents may not share one stamped paper, though a duly stamped or non-chargeable endorsement is allowed.
A breach of sections 13, 14 or 14A is not a technicality. Section 15 deems the instrument not duly stamped, with the consequences in section 34.
Denoting is not automatic. It requires a written application to the Collector and production of both instruments.
Duty is no longer paid only by stamps in the literal sense. Cash, demand draft, franking and electronic payment are all provided for by sections 10 and 10A to 10D.
Distinctions
| Method | Provision | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Adhesive stamp | s.11, cancelled under s.12 | Only the instruments the listed articles permit |
| Impressed stamp | ss.10(2), 10(2-1A), 13 | Stamp paper bearing the authorised officer's stamp and signature |
| Franking | s.10(2A) to (2C) | Impression by an authorised machine, commonly at a bank |
| Cash or demand draft | s.10A, with the certificate under s.10B | Payment into treasury or authorised bank |
| Electronic | ss.10C and 10D | e-payment and the e-SBTR |
| Provision | Effect of breach |
|---|---|
| s.12, adhesive stamp not cancelled | Deemed unstamped as to that stamp |
| s.13, impressed stamp not on the face | Not duly stamped, s.15 |
| s.14, second instrument on the same paper | Not duly stamped, s.15 |
Quick revision
- s.10: duty is paid, and the payment indicated on the instrument, by means of stamps; rules may fix the description and number of stamps; franking is authorised by the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority.
- ss.10A to 10D: payment in cash, by demand draft or pay order, by e-payment, and by e-SBTR; streamlined by the 2025 amendment.
- s.11: adhesive stamps only for the instruments in the listed articles.
- s.12: an adhesive stamp must be cancelled when affixed, and an uncancelled stamp leaves the instrument deemed unstamped as to that stamp.
- s.13: an impressed stamp must appear on the face of the instrument and be incapable of use for another.
- s.14: only one instrument on a piece of stamped paper; a duly stamped or non-chargeable endorsement transferring a right or acknowledging receipt is allowed.
- s.15: a breach of ss.13, 14 or 14A means the instrument is deemed not duly stamped.
- s.16: denoting duty, on written application to the Collector with both instruments produced, is how the concessions in ss.4 and 6 are proved.
Test yourself
1. In what ways may stamp duty be paid? By adhesive stamps where permitted, by impressed stamps, by franking under section 10(2A), in cash or by demand draft or pay order under section 10A, and electronically under sections 10C and 10D, including by e-SBTR.
Kinds of Stamps and the Mode of Using Them
2. Which instruments may bear an adhesive stamp? Only those mentioned in the articles listed in section 11. For all others another method must be used.
3. A party affixes an adhesive stamp of the correct value but does not cancel it. Is the instrument duly stamped? No. Section 12 requires cancellation when affixing, and an instrument bearing an uncancelled adhesive stamp is, so far as that stamp is concerned, deemed to be unstamped.
4. May two chargeable instruments be written on one piece of stamped paper? No. Section 14 forbids it, and section 15 deems an instrument so written not duly stamped. An endorsement which is itself duly stamped or not chargeable is permitted by the proviso.
5. What is the effect of a breach of section 13 or 14? Under section 15, the instrument is deemed to be not duly stamped, and so becomes inadmissible in evidence until duty and penalty are paid under section 34.
6. What is "denoting duty", and why is it needed? Where the duty on one instrument, or its exemption, depends on the duty actually paid on another, section 16 allows the payment to be denoted on the first by endorsement of the Collector, on written application and production of both instruments. It is the proof that the concessions under sections 4 and 6 were earned.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.