Section 35 explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.
Section 35 is the provision of the Act that advocates and company secretaries cite most often. It says an instrument chargeable with duty cannot be admitted in evidence, acted upon, registered or authenticated unless it is duly stamped, and then it sets out five provisos that soften or limit that rule. This article states the section as printed in the consolidated text consulted, including where it sits beside sections 40 and 41.
No instrument chargeable with duty may be admitted in evidence for any purpose, or acted upon, registered or authenticated, by a person having authority to receive evidence or by a public officer, unless it is duly stamped. Proviso (a) lets it be admitted on payment of the duty (or the deficient amount) with a penalty of five rupees, or ten times the duty or deficient portion if that exceeds five rupees. Proviso (b) admits an unstamped receipt against its giver on a penalty of one rupee. Provisos (c) to (e) cover contracts by letters, criminal proceedings and Government instruments or instruments bearing the Collector's certificate.
Scope of this article
This article follows the consolidated text of the Act consulted (latest amendment shown: Act 13 of 2021); later amendments should be checked. Stamp duty on most instruments is fixed by the law and schedule of the State where the instrument is executed, so the State of execution must be checked. This article explains the central Act only. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (V of 1898), named in proviso (d), is printed as in the original and has not been brought up to date; check the current law for the corresponding provision. No replacement is named here. If a document in a dispute is short of stamp, our legal dispute resolution team can look at the options.
The site's overview of payment modes, stamp duty payment under the Indian Stamp Act, 1899, touches section 35 in passing, and the short guide instruments not duly stamped: inadmissible as evidence gives the outline. Read the section itself, as below.
The main rule
"No instrument chargeable with duty shall be admitted in evidence for any purpose by any person having by law or consent of parties authority to receive evidence, or shall be acted upon, registered or authenticated by any such person or by any public officer, unless such instrument is duly stamped."
There are four bars, all in one sentence:
- admitted in evidence for any purpose;
- acted upon;
- registered; and
- authenticated.
The bars apply to a person with authority to receive evidence "by law or consent of parties" (the same class as in section 33) and, for acting upon, registering and authenticating, also to "any public officer". The condition is that the instrument is "chargeable with duty" and not "duly stamped". For the examination and impounding that go with it, see Section 33.
Proviso (a): admission on duty and penalty
The proviso reads in the copy: "any such instrument be admitted in evidence on payment of the duty with which the same is chargeable, or, in the case of any instrument insufficiently stamped, of the amount required to make up such duty, together with a penalty of five rupees, or, when ten times the amount of the proper duty or deficient portion thereof exceeds five rupees, of a sum equal to ten times such duty or portion."
| Situation | What is paid for admission |
|---|---|
| Instrument not stamped at all | The duty with which it is chargeable, plus a penalty |
| Instrument insufficiently stamped | The amount required to make up the duty, plus a penalty |
| Penalty, where ten times the proper duty (or deficient portion) does not exceed five rupees | Five rupees |
| Penalty, where ten times the proper duty (or deficient portion) exceeds five rupees | A sum equal to ten times that duty or portion |
Example with invented figures. If the proper duty on an unstamped lease were 100 units, ten times is 1,000 units, which exceeds five rupees; the penalty under the proviso is then a sum equal to 1,000 units. If the deficient portion were a very small amount so that ten times it did not exceed five rupees, the penalty would be five rupees. These units show only how the proviso works and do not state a duty.
The 2006 substitution and sections 40 and 41
The footnote to proviso (a) states that the word "shall" was substituted by Act 21 of 2006, s. 69, for the words "not being an instrument chargeable with a duty not exceeding ten nayepaise only, or a bill of exchange or promissory note, shall, subject to all just exceptions,". So in the copy consulted, proviso (a) as printed contains no exclusion of those instruments.
Sections 40 and 41, however, still read as printed with the words "not being an instrument chargeable with a duty not exceeding ten naye paise only or a bill of exchange or promissory note". The text consulted does not say how these are to be read together. This article states each section as printed and does not harmonise them. See Section 40 and Section 41. A reader dealing with a bill of exchange, a promissory note or an instrument of the small duty described should check the current law and the official text.
Proviso (b): unstamped receipt
"Where any person from whom a stamped receipt could have been demanded, has given an unstamped receipt and such receipt, if stamped, would be admissible in evidence against him, then such receipt shall be admitted in evidence against him on payment of a penalty of one rupee by the person tendering it." The penalty is one rupee as printed. This links with the receipt provisions in Sections 30, 34 and 65.
Proviso (c): contract by correspondence
"Where a contract or agreement of any kind is effected by correspondence consisting of two or more letters and any one of the letters bears the proper stamp, the contract or agreement shall be deemed to be duly stamped." One properly stamped letter is enough. Nothing says which letter must carry the stamp.
Example. Farah Khan offers to supply goods by letter, and Dinesh Gupta accepts by a second letter. If either letter bears the proper stamp, the contract made by the two letters is deemed duly stamped.
Proviso (d): criminal proceedings
"Nothing herein contained shall prevent the admission of any instrument in evidence in any proceeding in a Criminal Court, other than a proceeding under Chapter XII or Chapter XXXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 (V of 1898)." So the bar does not apply to most criminal proceedings but does apply to proceedings under those two chapters. Check the current law for the corresponding provisions.
Proviso (e): Government instruments and the Collector's certificate
"Nothing herein contained shall prevent the admission of any instrument in any Court when such instrument has been executed by or on behalf of the Government, or where it bears the certificate of the Collector as provided by section 32 or any other provision of this Act." The Collector's certificate route is in Section 32.
After admission on payment
When duty and penalty are paid under section 35, three things follow in the Act:
- the instrument is endorsed (section 42);
- the person who paid may be able to recover from the person bound to bear the cost (section 44); and
- an admission once made is not to be called in question in the same suit or proceeding on the ground of insufficient stamp, except as provided in section 61 (section 36).
See Section 36 for the last point.
A practical sequence
- Check the stamp on any document before filing it.
- If it is short, decide whether to approach the Collector under section 31 or to meet duty and penalty when the document is tendered.
- Keep proof of the date of execution; the one-month limit in section 32 runs from it.
- Record the endorsement and keep the receipt of payment.
Need help with a document that is short of stamp?
The route you take, whether adjudication first or admission on duty and penalty, depends on timing and the forum. Our legal dispute resolution team can advise on the stamping position of a document that is central to your case.
Key takeaways
- An instrument chargeable with duty cannot be admitted in evidence for any purpose, acted upon, registered or authenticated unless duly stamped.
- Proviso (a) allows admission on payment of the duty or deficiency plus a penalty of five rupees, or ten times the duty or portion where that exceeds five rupees.
- Proviso (a) in the copy consulted contains no exclusion for bills, notes or small-duty instruments, while sections 40 and 41 still carry one; each is stated as printed.
- An unstamped receipt is admitted against its giver on a penalty of one rupee.
- Contracts by correspondence are deemed duly stamped if one letter bears the proper stamp.
Read next
- Sections 36 and 37 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899: admission not to be questioned and stamps of wrong description
- Section 40 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899: Collector's power to stamp impounded instruments
- Section 33 of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899: examination and impounding
- Penalty for insufficient stamp duty
Disclaimer: Based on the consolidated text of the Indian Stamp Act, 1899 published by the Department of Revenue, whose latest amendment shown is Act 13 of 2021, as consulted on 2 October 2026. Only the central text is covered: stamp duty on most instruments is fixed by the law and schedule of the State where the instrument is executed, and State amendments, rules, notifications and later amendments should be checked. This article is general information, not legal advice; check the official text before acting.