AIR 1973 BOMBAY 14 ::1972 Mah LJ 816 ::74 Bom LR 505

Bombay High Court

Hon'ble Judge(s): Vimadalal , J

Evidence Act (1 of 1872) , S.79, S.67, S.68— Original of the public @page-Bom15document sought to be tendered in evidence must be proved in the manner required by the provisions of the Act.AIR 1951 All 816, Dissented from. Brief Note :- In all cases of secondary evidence under Section 65 read with Section 63 of the Act when a copy or an oral account of a document is admitted as secondary evidence, the execution of the original is not required to be proved, but if the original itself is sought to be tendered, it must be duly proved and there is no reason for applying a different rule to public documents. Section 79 only raises a rebuttable presumption with regard to the genuiness of certified copies, and that too, only if they are executed substantially in the form and in the manner provided by law. Neither Section 67 nor Section 68 of the Evidence Act which lay down that the signature and the handwriting on a document must be duly proved, make any exception in the case of public documents. In view of the provisions of the said section, all documents, whatever be their nature, must, therefore, be proved. So also no presumption under Section 114 that official acts have been regularly performed can be drawn in view of the mandatory and unqualified terms of Sections 67 and 68. Section 114 which merely empowers the Court to use its c....