(Updated in 2017) As Amended by SRO. No. 182/2017 dt. 07/04/2017 - Amendments in Rule 4(2), Chapter III A and Appendix III In exercise of the powers conferred by Sections 10, 11, 18, 36, 47, 54, 55, 58 and 69 of the Kerala Stamp Act, 1959 (Act 17 of 1959), the Government of Kerala hereby make the following rules:

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S.Rule 1 Short title.

(1) These Rules may be called the Kerala Stamp Rules, 1960.

S.Rule 2 Commencement.

These Rules shall come into force with effect from 1-9-1960.

S.Rule 3 Definitions.

In these rules --

 (a)  "The Act" means the Kerala Stamp Act, 1959 (Act 17 of 1959)

 (b)  "Section" means a section of the Act, and
 
 (c)  "Schedule" means the Schedule of the Act.

S.Rule 4 Description of Stamps.

(1) Except as otherwise provided by the Act or by these rules.
 
(a)  all duties with which any instrument is chargeable shall be paid and such payment shall be indicated on such instrument by means of stamps issued by Government for the purpose of the Act,

 (b)  a stamp which by any word or words on the face of it is appropriated to any particular kind of instrument, shall not be used for an instrument of any other kind; and

 (c)  stamps purchased in Kerala State shall alone be used for instruments executed within the State and chargeable with duty under the Act, ¹[The Government of India stamps, shall be sealed with the word "Kerala" before they are issued from the treasuries of the State.]

²[(2) There shall be three kinds of stamps for indicating the payment of duty with instruments are chargeable, namely:--

(a) impressed stamps,

(b) adhesive stamps, and

(c) e-stamps]

S.Rule 5 Hundis.

(1) Hundis other than hundis which may be stamped with an adhesive stamp under Section 11, shall be written on a paper as follows, namely: --

 (a)  A hundi payable otherwise than on demand, but not at more than one year after date or sight and for an amount not exceeding rupees thirty thousand in value, shall be written on paper on which a stamp of the proper value bearing the word "hundi" has been engraved or embossed.

 (b)  A hundi for an amount exceeding rupees thirty thousand in value or payable at more than one year after date or sight shall be written on paper supplied for sale by the Government to which a label has been affixed by the Superintendent of stamps and impressed by him in the manner prescribed by rules.
 
(2)  Every paper on which a hundi is written shall be not less than 8 5/8 inches long and 51/8 inches wide and no plain paper shall be joined thereto.

 (3)  The provisions of sub-rule (1) of Rule 7

S.Rule 6 Other instruments.

Every other instrument chargeable with duty shall except as provided by Section 11 or by Rules 10, 12 and 13 be written on paper on which a stamp of the proper value not bearing the word hundi has been engraved or embossed.

S.Rule 7 Provision where single sheet of paper is insufficient.

(1) For every instrument, a single stamp either impressed or adhesive of the exact amount of duty chargeable in respect of such instrument should alone be used. If no single stamp of the denomination covering the duty required by the instrument is available in circulation two or more stamps to make up the exact amount of duty chargeable may be used, in which case a portion of the instrument shall be written on each paper so used:

 Provided that no stamp of a lower denomination should be used so long as it is possible to have one of a higher denomination.
 
(2)  Where a single sheet of paper not being paper bearing an impressed hundi stamp is insufficient to admit of the entire instrument being written on it so much plain paper may be sub-joined thereto as may be necessary for the complete writing of such instrument:

Provided that in every such case a substantial part of the instrument shall be written on the sheet which bears the stamp before any

S.Rule 8

²[The duty on any instrument which is chargeable with a duty of twenty paise under the Act, or of fifty paise under Articles 17 and 40(b) or forty paise under Article 34 or seventy-five paise under Article 40(a) of the Schedule to the Act may be denoted by coloured impressions marked on skeleton form of such instrument by the Superintendent of Stamps.]

S.Rule 9 3[The proper officer.

The Superintendent of Stamps, the Officers in charge of the District Treasuries ⁴[and Sub-Treasuries and Manager and Agents of the Nationalised Banks and State Bank of India and subsidiaries] the District Stamp Depots, and the Sub-Treasuries and any other Officer or Officers appointed in this behalf by the Government are empowered to affix and impress or perforate labels and each of them shall be deemed to be the 'proper officer' for the purposes of the Act and of these Rules.]

S.Rule 10 Affixing and impressing of labels by proper officer permissible in certain cases.

Labels may be affixed and impressed or perforated by the proper officer in the case of any of the following instruments viz.,-

 (a) those specified in Appendix I and the counter parts thereof; ⁵[xxxx]

 (b) those specified in Appendix II when written in any European language and accompanied if the language is not English by a translation in English:
 
Provided that the Government may direct that this rule shall apply subject to any conditions that they may prescribe to any of the instruments specified in Appendix II written in any oriental language.

S.Rule 11 Mode of affixing the impressing labels.

(1) The proper officer shall upon any instrument specified in Rule 10 being brought to him before it is executed, and upon application being made to him, affix thereto a label or labels of such value as the applicant may require and pay for, and impress or perforate such label or labels by means of a stamping machine or a perforating machine and also stamp or write on the face of the label or labels the date of impressing or perforating the same. In the case of instruments written on parchment, the labels shall be further secured by means of metallic eyelets.

 (2)  On affixing any label or labels under this rule the proper officer shall where the duty amounts to Rs. five or upwards write on the face of the label or labels his initials and where the duty amounts to Rs. twenty or upwards, shall also attach his usual signature to the instrument immediately under the label or labels.

 (3)  Any principal assistant of the proper officer may discharge the

S.Rule 12 Certain instruments to be stamped with impressed labels.

(1) Instruments executed out of the Kerala State and requiring to be stamped after their receipt in the Kerala State (other than instrument which under Section 11 or Rule 13 may be stamped with adhesive stamps) shall be stamped with impressed labels.

 (2)  When any such instrument as aforesaid is taken to the Collector under Section 18, sub-section (2) the Collector unless he is himself the proper officer, shall send the instrument to the proper officer, remitting the amount of duty paid in respect thereof and the proper officer shall stamp the instrument in the manner prescribed by Rule 11 and return it to the Collector for delivery to the person by whom it was produced.

S.Rule 13 Use of adhesive stamps on certain instruments.

The following instruments may be stamped with adhesive stamps namely:-

 (a)  Copies of maps or plans, ^6A[copies of documents printed using computer systems] printed copies or extracts from registers given on printed forms when chargeable with duty under Article ⁶[23] of the Schedule.

 (b)  Instruments chargeable with stamp duty under Articles 5(a) and (b) and ⁷[40] of the Schedule.

 (c)  Instruments chargeable with stamp duty under Articles 17, 33 and ⁸[44] of the Schedule.  
 
 ⁹[(d)  Instruments chargeable with stamp duty under Article 25 of the Schedule.]

S.Rule 14 How deficient duty is made up.

Notwithstanding anything contained in the rules whenever the stamp duty payable under the Act in respect of any instrument cannot be paid exactly by reason of the fact that the necessary stamps are not in circulation, the amount by which the payment of duty shall on that account be in deficit shall be made up by the affixing of 10 paise and 5 paise adhesive stamps such as are described in Rule 15.

S.Rule 15 Denominations of adhesive stamps.

Except as otherwise provided by the Rules the adhesive stamps used to denote duty shall be the requisite number of stamps bearing the words "twenty five paise" or "twenty paise" or "fifteen paise" or "ten paise" or "five paise".

S.Rule 16

The following instruments when stamped with adhesive stamps shall be stamped with the following descriptions of such stamps viz.:-

 (a)  Copies of maps or plans and printed copies certified to be true copies with court fee stamps

 (b)  Instruments chargeable with stamp duty under Articles 5(a) and (b) or ¹⁰[40] of Schedule I with stamps bearing the words "Agreement" or "Brokers Note" respectively.

 ¹¹[(c)  Customs bonds chargeable with stamp duty under Article 25 of the Schedule with stamps of any value bearing the words ¹²[customs].

S.Rule 16-A

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this rules and in the Kerala Manufacture and Sale of Stamp Rules, 1960;

(a) The instruments chargeable with duty for an amount of less than rupees one lakh shall be stamped with either impressed stamp or e-stamp:

 Provided that such instrument shall be stamped with e-stamp only with effect from the date as determined by the Government.

(b) The instrument chargeable with Stamp duty for an amount above rupees one lakh shall be stamped with e-stamp only:

 Provided that such instrument shall be stamped with either e-stamp or impressed stamp for a period of sixty days from the date of commencement of the Kerala Stamp (Amendment) Rules, 2017.

(2) Any person paying stamp duty with which any instrument is chargeable shall login to the website of Registration Department with the user id and password provided by the department. After providing the details of the instruments required therein stamp duty shall

S.Rule 17 Provision for cases in which improper description of stamp is used.

When an instrument bears a stamp of proper amount but of improper description the Collector may, on payment of the duty with which the instrument is chargeable certify by an endorsement that it is duly stamped.

S.Rule 18 Evidence as to circumstances of claim to refunds or renewals.

The Collector may require any person claiming a refund or renewal under Chapter V of the Act, or his duly authenticated agent to make an oral deposition on oath or affirmation or to file an affidavit, setting forth the circumstances under which the claim has arisen and may also, if he thinks fit, call for the evidence of witness in support of the statement set forth in any such deposition or affidavit.

S.Rule 19 Payment of allowances in respect of spoiled or misused stamps.

When an application is made for payment under Chapter V of the Act of an allowance in respect of a stamp which has been spoiled or misused or for which the applicant has no immediate use and an order is passed by the Collector sanctioning the allowance or calling for further evidence in support of the application, then, if the amount of allowance or the stamp given in lieu thereof is not taken or if the further evidence required is not furnished as the case may be, by the applicant within one year of the date of such order, the application shall be struck off, and the spoiled or misused stamp, if any, sent for destruction to the Superintendent of Stamps or other officer appointed by Government in this behalf.

S.Rule 19A 13[Payment of stamp duty deducted by a member of a Stock Exchange or Commodity Exchange or Intermediary thereof.-

The member of a Stock Exchange or Commodity Exchange or Intermediary thereof shall produce within 10 days from the date of remittance of the stamp duty, the chalan for having remitted the stamp duty in the Government Treasury before the District Registrar (General) of the District in which the Government Treasury is situated.]

S.Rule 20 13[Rewards.

On the conviction of any offender or on the composition of any offence under the provisions of the Act, the Collector may grant to any person, who appears to him to have contributed to such conviction or composition as the case may be, a reward not exceeding 5% of the amount of fine realised on conviction or composition, subject to a maximum of Rs. 200, as the Collector may fix in this behalf.]

S.Rule 21

¹⁴[x x x x]

S.APPENDIX

APPENDIX I List of instruments referred to in Rule 10(a)
			No. of articles in the Schedule
1.	Administration Bond		2

S.¹[APPENDIX III

]