In M/S. Deepak Corporation vs Pushpa Prahlad Nanderjog[1], the Court has laid down:

“The question is whether the court before whom an inadequately stamped document had been produced for modification of the decree passed by it earlier, can be restrained from impounding the same under Section 33 of the Act by the concerned party by withdrawing the application itself with which the said document had been produced. To put it differently, in such a situation whether the court becomes functus officio for the purpose of Section 33 of the Act. The answer, in my opinion, in clear terms is in the negative.”

Section 33 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 imposes a duty upon the Court to get an inadequately stamped document impounded such an impounding of a document can also be done when the duty of the liable party does not come to an end even after the stamped document is acted upon and the party still gets to pay a penalty. The powers, duties and jurisdiction of the court to pass orders on the application of the party for modification of the decree on the basis of such application and the document produced therewith and the powers, functions and jurisdiction of the court under Section 33 of the Stamp Act to impound the inadequately stamped document produced or coming before it are two distinct and different powers and jurisdictions.[2]

According to Section 104 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, any Court may, if it thinks fit, impound any document or thing produced before it under this Code.[3]  In Smt. Ravikala H., D/o. H. Bhaskar Shanbhog vs. Sri. K.V. Rama Murthy, S/o Late Sri. K.R.V. Iyer and State of Karnataka, it was said that any agreement written down on a stamped paper becomes an instrument and if such an instrument is insufficiently stamped, it cannot be considered as evidence.

However, there is an exception to this rule when it comes to passports. In Suresh Nanda vs. CBI[4], the Apex Court had declared that passports do not fall under the category of ‘document’ as mentioned in Section 104 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Passports have a specific legislation namely the Passports Act, 1967 which carries a specific definition for ‘passport’ and being a specific law, it is not compelled to be included under the heading of document as per Code of Criminal Procedure.