law: Indian Stamp Act, 1899 
  33. Examination and impounding of instruments 
  (1) Every person having by law or consent of parties authority to
  
  receive evidence, and every person in charge of a public office, except an
  
  officer of police, before whom any instrument, chargeable, in his opinion, with
  
  duty, is produced or comes in the performance in his functions shall, if it
  
  appears to him that such instrument is not duly stamped, impound the same.
  (2) For that purpose every such person shall examine every
  
  instrument so chargeable and so produced or coming before him, in order to
  
  ascertain whether it is stamped with a stamp of the value and description
  
  required by the law in force in 3[India] when such instrument was
  
  executed or first executed:
  PROVIDED  that- 
  (a) nothing herein contained shall be deemed to require any
  
  Magistrate or Judge of a criminal court to examine or impound, if he does not think
  
  fit so to do, any instrument coming before him in the course of any proceeding
  
  other than a proceeding under Chapter XII or Chapter XXXVI of the Code of
  
  Criminal Procedure, 1898:
  (b) in the case of a Judge of a High Court, the duty of
  
  examining and impounding any instrument under this section may be delegated to
  
  such officer as the court appoints in this behalf.
  (3) For the purposes of this section, in cases of doubt,- 
  (a) 27[the 6[State
  
  Government]] may determine what offices shall be deemed to be public offices;
  
  and
  (b) 27[the 6[State
  
  Government]] may determine who shall be deemed to be persons in charge of
  
  public offices.