11/03/2024
PLD 2024 SUPREME-COURT 45
Mehr NOOR MUHAMMAD VS NAZIR AHMED
S. 4- Stamp Act (II of 1899), S. 36-Promissory note--Admissibility in evidence-Section 36 of the Stamp
Act, 1899 provides that when a document has once been admitted in evidence, such admission cannot be called into question at any stage of the suit or in proceedings, on the ground that the instrument has
not been duly stamped-Where a question as to the admissibility of a document is raised on the ground that it has not been stamped or has not been properly stamped, it has to be decided there and then when the document is tendered in evidence---Once the Court, rightly or wrongly, admits the document in evidence and allows the parties to use it in examination and cross-examination, so far as the parties are concerned, the matter is closed-It is, therefore, essential that parties to litigation, where such a controversy is raised, must be cautious, and the party challenging the admissibility of the document must be alert to see that the document is not admitted in evidence by the Court-Court is also required to judicially determine the matter as soon as the document is tendered in evidence and before it is marked as an exhibit in the case-So, once a promissory note has been marked as an exhibit and the trial has proceeded along the footing that the promissory note is made an exhibit, and has been used by the parties in the examination and cross-examination of their witnesses, then section 36 of the Stamp Act, 1899, will come into operation-In the present case as the promissory note had admitted in evidence, as aforesaid, it was not open to the Trial Court to exclude it from consideration while writing the final judgment, nor to the appellate Court- -Admission of the document in terms of section 36 of the Stamp Act, 1899, cannot be reviewed or revised by the same Court or a Court of superior jurisdiction.