Preservation of bond and retention of securities :

Proper preservation of bonds is to be ensured in the interest of the revenue.

Bonds must be preserved as long as they are valid and should be returned only after all the obligations under the bond had been discharged.

All officers who filled Central Excise bonds must be careful not to enforce the words “cancelled” on the bonds even after the apparent fulfillment of obligation; otherwise it is likely to be argued that persons liable under the bond have been thereby discharged from the liabilities imposed by the bond. The obligations under the bond are not legally extinguished so long as the bond is not returned to the obligor or is not cancelled on execution of a deed of cancellation.