NAME – Shreya Jha
COURSE- BBA.LLB (Semester- 1),
COLLEGE – VSLLS (Vivekananda School of law and legal studies)
PUBLIC DOCUMENTS
Documents that are made available to the general public after they have been verified or confirmed by government officials, also known as public records since they are published for public scrutiny. These officers make their remarks on the record so that they can be used as admissible evidence of fact in the court. Documents covered by section-74 of the Indian evidence act are considered public documents.
Acts or records
of acts formed by these documents are of official, sovereign authority,
official bodies and tribunals, public
officers, legislative, judiciary and executive of any part of India or of the commonwealth, or of a foreign
country and the public record kept in any state of private document. It includes schemes published
under the official gazette (electricity supply act, 1948); scheme was about the installation the of transmission lines (making it a public document). Documents forming
acts or records of acts are-* Under
section-161 of CRPC recorded statement by police officers, records by revenue officers, land disputes survey and settlement [K. Pedda Jangaiah
v. Mandal revenue officer- by Andhra Pradesh HC],
mentioning Pahanies and Faisal patties as public document.
Records maintained by regional developmental authorities [S L Sharma v Delhi development authority].
*HINDU MARRIAGE REGISTER- considered to be a public document mentioned
by honorable Supreme Court
judges in Smt. Seema v. Ashwani Kumar, thus marriage register is considered public document.
*PUBLIC DOCUMENTS KEPT IN ANY STATE OF PRIVATE DOCUMENTS- Section 74
of Indian evidence act states that the document should be prepared by a government servant in order with his/her duty, even if it is in public office then too we can refer it as public document. Section 74(2) states that private document though made by an individual person but in records it is in public office and is regarded as public document [Nattaram DS v. Md. Masadharali 1991] guwahati HC judgment stating that “Public documents are those documents, which are required to be kept in the governmental units and discharge their duty as prescribed by law. A public record is one required by law or directed by law to serve as a memorial and evidence of something written, said or done. Under the purview of section 74(2), a private document would be called a public document.
Section – 74(s) - Memorandum of association of a company is a public document
MEDICO LEGAL REPORT –
MLC report is a public
document since it is prepared
by a medical officer (Dalip kumar alias Pinki vs state).
RECORDS OF NATIONMALIZED BANK – Records maintained by nationalized banks are public document (Shri Keshava Gupta vs Coal India ltd.)
Few examples of public document are - * Electoral roll (all districts), Report of town planning by Department of state Development, Census report of India, Village records, Original private documents, keeping public records, national bank records, death and birth register, Under section- 164 of CrPC recorded confessions, section-106 of CrPC containing notices, Section-145 of CrPC containing records of information.
CERTIFIED COPIES OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS (Section 76)
Section 76 of Indian evidence act, describes the procedure for getting certified copies of public documents from the public officer. If a public document is open for inspection, its copy may be issued to anyone who requests it.
Upon payment of legal fees, a copy of public document is issued, along with a certificate containing the following information: *that it is a true copy, *Date of issue, *Name of officer and his official title, * Seal of the office, * date. The copy is only considered certified if these particulars are included in it.
The question that arises here is whether a person is entitled to a copy of a public document?
Well, if a person has the right to inspect the document, he would be entitled to a copy. However, if a person does not have the right to inspect the public document, he will not be entitled to one, as stated in Rasipuram union motor service vs. commissioner of income tax according to Suraj narain vs. Seth jhabhu lal and others, the high court of judicature of Allahabad holds the right to view a public document is to examine the order for a copy and not to view the entire record. An individual who does not have the right to inspect the certified copy of a public document but obtains it illegally as evidence in court.
PROOF OF DOCUMENTS BY THE PRODUCTION OF CERTIFIED COPIES (Section – 77)
A certified copy is permitted to be used as proof of the content of a public document of which it claims to be a copy under section 77 of the Indian evidence act, 1872. The court may accept the certified copy of the public document taken from the public officer as evidence when the contents of the public document need to be verified in court. When the contents of the public document need to be verified, the original copy of public document does not have to be presented before the court. Instead the certified copy taken from the public officer according to section 76 of Indian evidence act, 1872 may be presented to the court.
Based upon this principle, it is said that the record of a court should never be removed from its place of custody and placed in the courts. Consequently, if public records or documents are summoned in court, it would be difficult for other parties to access the documents. As an example, take the case of a public record or document presented in one court in 1940, and let’s say it drags on and on until 1950. During this time, many other individuals who wish or need to present those records or documents are hampered. So, a ban on copies of these public documents or records which require the originals to be filed in cases would mean that the individuals would be deprived of their use of those public documents or records for 10 years plus there would be a constant risk of loss and additional wear and tear of documents as they wear and tear that is because of movement from here to there. In state of Haryana vs. Ram Singh, the Supreme Court held that it is not the law that the certified copy of a registered agreement for sale is in admissible in court if it can be shown that parties to the certified copy are asked to examine the agreement. This would be in contravention of section 77 read with section 74(2) and section 76 of the Indian evidence act, 1872, more particularly section 51-A of the land acquisition act. This does not preclude the court from rejecting the transaction itself as mala fide provided such challenge is made before it. The court may acknowledge the certified copy as solid proof and without inspecting the parties.
The Supreme Court held that marriage certificates can be used as evidence of marriage in the case of Seema v. Ashwani kumar.
In the case of Madamanchi Ramappa & Anr vs Muthalur Bojjappa, the SC of India held that a certified copy of a public document or record is admissible as evidence in court without proof.
Further according to the Punjab High court in Harichand and Ors. Vs. Bachan Kaur, if the certified copy of the public record is defective, an objection must be made to trial court.
PROOF OF OTHER OFFICIAL DOCUMENT (Section 78)
By any act, order, or notification of the Central government in any department, or of the crown Representative, or any state government, or any department of any state government; by the records of the respective departments, certified by the head of the departments; or any document purporting to have been printed by order of any such government or; as the case maybe, by the crown representative Proceedings
of legislative bodies as represented in journals or by acts or abstracts that have been published or copies of documents purportedly printed by government order. Proclamations, orders, and regulations issued by her majesty or by her privy council, or her departments, or by copies or extracts contained in London Gazette or claiming to be printed byu Queen’s porinter
An act of the executive or action of the legislature of a foreign nation; a journal published by their authority or generally accepted in that country or a copy certified under the seal of that country or sovereign, or recognition in some central act. An official copy of the proceedings of a municipal body in state, certified by its legal keeper, or by a printed publication purporting to be published by the authority of the body. The original or a copy signed by the officer with legal custody of the original, within a foreign country; with a certification under the seal of a notary public, or of an Indian council or diplomatic agent, that the copy has been duly certified by the officer with legal custody of the original, and after proof of the authenticity of the document according to the foreign law.
KINDS OF PUBLIC DOCUMENT (Section 78)
Central acts orders or notifications (certified by head of departments), Proceedings of the legislatures, Proclamations, orders or regulations issued by her majesty, Acts of the executives or proceedings of foreign legislature, Municipal body proceedings.
POINT OF VIEW
Basically, a public record is just information that is recorded and stored by the government that is accessible to the public. Records can be in tangible forms, such as paper, maps, or photographs, or any electronic media like CD, DVD ETC. How the information is stored doesn’t matter, it is the content that matters. Typical public records are-court records, death records, birth records, licensing records, marriage records, business records, voting records, government financial records etc. Documents those are made by a public servant in discharge of his/her duties, public document is available for inspection to public, after payment of fees, secondary evidence is required in proving public documents, during any judicial proceeding, and a certified copy of public document is required. If the court receives duly certified copy of a public document, it is bound to presume authenticity. When asked the certified copies of public documents may be issued. For example the allotment of shares to the members of adders society in Mumbai was a private document between the society and members. But when the entire society was involved in fraudulently taking government defense land, this record became of public interest and could be accessed by anyone. They can be proved by obtaining certified copy according to section 76, which is to be considered a copy of the original. The court held in Rammapa vs. Bajjappa that a certified copy of a public document can be accepted as evidence without proof. Section 78 lists the methods by which public documents can be proved.Basically a public document is one made by a public officer during the course of service and these documents are also published by the sovereign authority. They are presumed to be genuine unless otherwise their legal sanctity is to be questioned.
1. The section of Indian evidence act mentioning them-
section 74, documents forming act of record or acts etc. Statements which
are recorded by police officers under section 161 of Cr.P.C.
