UNION OF INDIA Vs. LALLI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Union of India, the defendant-petitioner in this civil revision application, was asked by the court at the instance of the plaintiff-opposite party to produce Railway Board's Letter No. F/55-RG-6-25, dated New Delhi, the 21st May, 1956. The petitioner filed the document in a sealed cover, claiming privilege under Section 123 of the Evidence Act. The learned Munsif has held that privilege cannot be claimed in this case chiefly for two reasons (i) that a copy of the said letter has been produced by the plaintiff-opposite party, and, there- fore, it is a disclosed document now and not a confidential one, and (ii) that the claim to privilege is not bona fide, but is mala fide,

(2.) In my opinion, the first ground mentioned by the learned Munsif for rejecting the claim of privilege is wholly wrong and untenable. It is not known, whether the copy produced by the plaintiff is the correct copy of the document called for. By producing a plain copy like this, if the claim of privilege is justified in law, one cannot defeat the claim, which is in the interest of the affairs of the State. The copy may be correct yet, if the claim of privilege is just and legal, the original cannot be permitted to be produced by the party claiming the privilege, merely because a plain copy has been produced by the other side. The production of the original would mean the admission that the copy produced is correct and it will make the claim . of privilege nugatory,

(3.) It is no doubt true that on an earlier occasion when this document was asked to be produced along with other documents, the claim of privilege was not made, but finally, when the order was passed to produce this document, it was produced in a sealed cover and claim of privilege was made. That by itself will not show that the claim is mala fide and not bona fide. The law in this regard is well settled by now by a recent decision of the House of Lords in England as also several decisions in India. The presiding officer of the court before whom the claim of privilege is made can examine the document for himself and then decide whether the claim is just, proper and bona fide, or, whether it is unjust, untenable or mala fide. If it comes to the former conclusion, the claim has to be upheld, without showing the document to any other party and without discussing the contents of the document in the order, but, if it comes to the latter conclusion, it is plain that, the claim of privilege has to be rejected and the document has got to be produced and exhibited in accordance with law.