This is a reference by the Board of Revenue, Madras, the Chief Controlling Revenue Authority, under section 57 of the Indian Stamp Act raising the question of the chargeability of the proper stamp duty in respect of a document, dated 5th September, 1954, which came under the purview of the Revenue Authorities under the following circumstances.

Nidamurthi Narasimham and Surayya are divided brothers who were parties to a transaction embodied in writing and dated 5th September, 1954. Narasimham one of the executants of the said document presented it to the Collector of Madras for assessment and levy of the stamp duty payable for that document. The Collector impounded the document under section 33 of the Indian Stamp Act and called upon Narasimham to file an affidavit explaining the various items of transactions referred to in the document which, on the face of the document, looked obscure and cryptic. Narasimham filed an affidavit, dated 25th February, 1955, the contents of which were not really helpful in determining the chargeable stamp duty. The Collector classified the document as a deed of partition under Article 38 of Schedule 1-A of the Stamp Act and also as a conv