Allowance for spoiled stamps

Subject to the prescribed regulations and to the payment of the prescribed fee if any, and to the production of such evidence by statutory declaration which shall be exempt from stamp duty or otherwise as the Commissioners may require, allowance shall be made by the Commissioners for stamps spoiled in the following circumstances– (a) where the stamp on material which is inadvertently and undesignedly obliterated, or by any means rendered unfit for the purpose intended before it is signed by any person or an instrument written thereon is executed by any person; (b) where the adhesive stamp which has been inadvertently and undesignedly spoiled or rendered unfit for use, and has not, in the opinion of the Commissioners, been affixed to any material; (c) where the adhesive stamp representing a fee capable of being collected by means thereof which has been affixed to material if it is certified by the officer responsible for collecting the fee that the stamp should be allowed; 10 [CAP. 64 (d) where the stamp on a bill of exchange signed by or on behalf of the drawer which has not been accepted or made use of in any manner whatever or delivered out of his hands for any purpose other than by way of tender for acceptance; (e) where the stamp on a promissory note signed by or on behalf of the maker which has not been made use of in any manner whatever or delivered out of his hands; (f) where the stamp on a bill of exchange or promissory note which from an omission or error is spoiled or rendered useless, although it, being a bill of exchange, has been accepted or endorsed, or, being a promissory note, has been delivered to the payee, if another completed and duly stamped bill of exchange or promissory note is produced identical in every particular, except in the correction of the error or omission, with the spoiled bill or note; (g) where the stamp on an instrument executed by a party thereto, but afterwards found to be absolutely void from the beginning; (h) where the stamp on an instrument executed by a party thereto, but afterwards found unfit, by reason of an error or mistake therein, for the purpose originally intended; (i) where the stamp on an instrument executed by a party thereto which has not been made use of for any purpose whatever, and which by reason of the inability or refusal of some necessary party to execute it or to complete the transaction according to the instrument, is 11 incomplete and insufficient for the purpose for which it was intended; (j) where an instrument executed by a party thereto, which by reason of the refusal of any person to act under it, or for want of enrolment or registration within the time required by law, wholly fails of the intended purpose or becomes void; and (k) where an instrument executed by a party thereto which is inadvertently and undesignedly spoiled, and in lieu whereof another instrument made between the same parties and for the same purpose is executed and duly stamped, or which becomes useless in consequence of the transaction intended to be thereby effected being effected by some other duly stamped instrument, Provided that– (i) the application for relief is made within two years after the stamp has been spoiled or become useless, or, in the case of an executed instrument, after the date of the instrument, or, if it is not dated, within two years after the execution thereof by the person by whom it was first or alone executed; or (ii) in the case of an executed instrument, no legal proceeding has been commenced in which the instrument could or would have been given or offered in evidence, and that the instrument is given up to be cancelled. 12 [CAP. 64