Navaniti Prasad Singh, J.

1. The writ petitioner/appellant along with his mother resides in the United States of America. They have some properties in the State of Kerala. The mother being old, she had, in the State of Texas, USA, executed a Power of Attorney in favour of the appellant in respect of certain properties. This Power of Attorney executed in the USA had endorsement of the Indian Consulate in the U.S. On the strength of the Power of Attorney, the appellant executed several transfer deeds in respect of the properties in India.

2. It appears that in relation to certain transactions, when the said Power of Attorney was produced before the State Bank of Travancore, Punalur Branch, the appellant was informed that it is not duly stamped and accordingly it cannot be acted upon. The appellant then approached the first respondent, the Revenue Divisional Officer, Kollam, who is the Collector as defined under Section 2 (c) of the Kerala Stamp Act, 1959 (the Act for short), seeking an adjudication whether it is properly stamped or not. The first respondent merely stated that the Power of Attorney could not be stamped as it was time barred. It is this decision that has been c