Insufficiently Stamped Instrument: Election under Section 34 can trigger statutory penalty and bar later resort to alternate procedure.

Where a party elects to have an insufficiently stamped instrument received in evidence under Section 34 of the Karnataka Stamp Act and agrees to pay proper duty and penalty, the court may enforce the statutory penalty, including ten-times penalty on the deficit stamp duty. The party cannot later insist on sending the document to the District Registrar under the alternate procedure in Section 37(2) or Section 39. The settled stamp-duty scheme was applied to uphold the trial court's direction, and the challenge to the stamp-duty order failed.

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Issues: Whether, on the facts of the case, the suit agreement was liable to be acted upon under Section 34 of the Karnataka Stamp Act with ten-times penalty on the deficit stamp duty, or whether the document ought to have been sent to the District Registrar for determination of duty and penalty.

Analysis: The appellant had invited the trial court to accept the certified copy of the agreement and had agreed to pay proper stamp duty and penalty at the interlocutory stage. In that setting, the case fell within Section 34 of the Karnataka Stamp Act, which governs instruments not duly stamped and authorises levy of the prescribed penalty. The Court distinguished the situation from cases where the party chooses to invoke the mechanism under Section 37(2) or Section 39. Once the party elects to proceed under Section 34, it cannot later insist on the alternate route to the District Registrar. The High Court's reliance on the settled stamp-duty scheme and the earlier authorities was therefore justified.

Conclusion: The imposition of ten-times penalty under Section 34 was upheld and the appellant's challenge to the stamp-duty order failed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal did not warrant interference and stood dismissed, leaving the trial court's stamp-duty and penalty direction intact.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a party elects to have an insufficiently stamped instrument received in evidence under Section 34 of the Karnataka Stamp Act, the court may enforce the statutory penalty, and the party cannot subsequently compel recourse to the alternate procedure under Section 37(2) or Section 39.

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