4. Section 39 of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following new section substituted therefor:-
| 39.
| | (1) The Commissioner may, where he thinks fit so to do, require any person in charge of a public office, before whom any instrument chargeable with duty is produced or comes in the performance of his functions-
| | | (a) to impound such instrument; or |
| (b) to examine such instrument in order to ascertain whether it is stamped with a stamp of the value and description required by the law in force in Ceylon when such instrument was executed or first executed. |
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| | (2) Where any person is under subsection (1) required to impound or examine any instrument, it shall be the duty of such person to impound or examine such instrument, as the case may be, and take such further steps as may be required by the Commissioner. | | |
| | (3) Any officer of the Department of Inland Revenue who is authorized by the Commissioner in that behalf may, after giving due notice to any person in charge of a public office, examine any instrument in such public office in order to ascertain whether such instrument is stamped with the stamp of the value and description required by the law in force in Ceylon when such instrument was executed or first executed. | | |
| | (4) For the purposes of section 38 and this section, in cases of doubt, the Minister may determine-
| | | (a) what offices shall be deemed to be public offices; and |
| (b) who shall be deemed to be persons in charge of public offices. ". |
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Sri Lanka Consolidated Acts