Admissibility of insufficiently stamped documents must be decided before marking; interlocutory postponement is impermissible.

An insufficiently stamped document cannot be looked into for any purpose until the deficit duty and penalty are paid under the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, while an unregistered document may still be considered for a collateral purpose. Where an objection at the interlocutory stage raises both insufficiency of stamp and want of registration, the trial court must decide admissibility before the document is marked. The court's decision to postpone that objection until disposal of the interlocutory application was incorrect, and the order permitting marking of the document was unsustainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether, at the interlocutory stage, a document that is both unregistered and insufficiently stamped can be marked before the trial court and whether the objections to its admissibility must be decided before such marking.

Analysis: The distinction between an unregistered document and an insufficiently stamped document is material. An unregistered document may still be received for a collateral purpose, but Section 35 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 creates an absolute bar against looking into an insufficiently stamped document for any purpose unless the deficit duty and penalty are paid. While documents relied on in interlocutory proceedings may be marked for convenience and clarity, the court cannot ignore a basic legal infirmity affecting admissibility. Since the objection in the present case related not only to want of registration but also to insufficiency of stamp, the trial court ought to have determined that objection before permitting the document to be marked. The approach of postponing the objection until disposal of the interlocutory application was incorrect.

Conclusion: The order permitting marking of the document was unsustainable. The revision petitioner succeeded, and the trial court was directed to decide the objections to admissibility on the grounds of insufficiency of stamp and want of registration before marking the document.

Ratio Decidendi: An insufficiently stamped document cannot be looked into for any purpose until the statutory requirements for stamp duty and penalty are satisfied, and where such an objection is raised at the interlocutory stage, it must be decided before the document is marked.

---