NARSIDAS JEKISONDAS Vs. RAVISHANKAR PRABHASHANKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A preliminary question arises in this case as to whether the document, Exhibit A, is admissible in evidence. Exhibit A is a certified copy of a document which is in the possession of the Collector of Bombay. The document of which Exhibit A is a copy is a copy conveyance, dated August 6, 1838, of a property which now belongs to defendant No. 1, There is no question that the certified copy is a correct copy. The question is whether the document, of which it is a copy, namely, the copy in the possession of the Collector, is properly admissible in evidence of the original document.

(2.) Under Regulation 9 of 1827 it is provided in the second clause of Section 5 that A separate book to be called the Book of .Entries shall be kept for each of the two registers, in the form contained in appendix C.

(3.) That is a form of register for registering the particulars of the document relating to immoveable property, and various particulars have to be entered in that. Then the 4 clause of Section 5 provides that- The deeds and -writings presented for registry, shall be copied at full length into the proper register, in the order in which they stand in the Books of Entries, and the copies shall be carefully compared with the original, and be attested by the signature of the Superintendent ". Then Clause 7 provides that:- The original deed, or other writing, after being registered, shall be returned to the owner, or the person who presented it, who shall sign a receipt for it, on the margin of the entry, in the Book of Entries. Under that provision, the Collector had a duty, when this document was presented to him, to make a full and accurate copy of it in his book, and the Collector's book which is produced is, therefore, I think, good secondary evidence of the original document, provided secondary evidence could be admitted at all.