T SIVASANKARAM PILLAI Vs. AGALI NARAYANA RAO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This second appeal arises out of a suit instituted by the plaintiff for damages for an alleged libel in a letter dated 4 February, 1929, addressed by the defendant as President of the Taluk Board, Penukonda, to the Secretary to Government, Local Self-Government Department, Madras. On a summons to produce the said letter, the Government sent it in a sealed cover and pleaded privilege under Section 124 of the Indian Evidence Act. Both the Courts upheld the privilege. The plaintiff then sought to let in evidence of the contents of the letter by filing Ex. A which purports to be a copy of the said letter containing the initials of the defendant. This document was produced from the office of the Taluk Board as a summons for production in a criminal case and it was sought to be made use of for the purpose of this case by the plaintiff. Both the lower Courts took the view that as the original could not be admitted in evidence on the ground of privilege, no secondary evidence of its contents could be given and therefore declined to rely on Ex. A and dismissed the suit as there was no evidence before the Court of the alleged libel.

(2.) Mr. Ranganadha Aiyar on behalf of the plaintiff does not dispute the proposition that where the original of a document could not be admitted in evidence on the ground of privilege no secondary evidence of its contents can be given; but he argues that Ex. A itself is the original as it contains the initials of the defendant. For this purpose he relies on Section 62 of the Indian Evidence Act, Section 62, Explanation 2 of the Act runs thus: Where a number of documents are all made by one uniform process, as in the case of printing, lithography, photography, each is primary evidence of the contents of the rest; but, where they are all copies of a common original, they are not primary evidence of the contents of the original.

(3.) The contention is that Ex. A and the letter sent to the Government were all made by one uniform process, namely, by typing on a type machine, and as it contains the initials of the