Inchoate Stamped Instrument,” which is a concept primarily from the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (NIA), not the Black Money Act. Under section 20 of the NIA, when a person signs and delivers to another a paper stamped in accordance with the law relating to negotiable instruments—either wholly blank or having written thereon an incomplete negotiable instrument—they give prima facie authority to the holder to make or complete the instrument for any amount not exceeding the amount covered by the stamp.

Who is liable?

The person who signs and delivers the inchoate (incomplete or blank) stamped instrument is liable upon such instrument, in the capacity in which they signed, to any holder in due course for such amount as may be filled in, provided the amount does not exceed the value covered by the stamp. In other words, liability attaches to the person who signs the blank or incomplete instrument, not to the person who later fills it in.

This principle is distinct from the Black Money Act, which deals with undisclosed foreign income and assets and does not address inchoate instruments