CHAPTER V.––OF DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE · PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

Section 76: Certified copies of public documents

The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (repealed)

Repealed by the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (47 of 2023) with effect from 1 July 2024.

Every¹ public officer having the custody of a public document, which any person has a right to inspect, shall give that person on demand a copy of it on payment of the legal fees there for, together with a certificate written at the foot of such copy that it is a true copy of such document or part thereof, as the case may be, and such certificate shall be dated and subscribed by such officer with his name and his official title, and shall be sealed, whenever such officer is authorised by law to make use of a seal; and such copies so certified shall be called certified copies.

Explanation.––Any officer who, by the ordinary course of official duty, is authorised to deliver such copies, shall be deemed to have the custody of such documents within the meaning of this section.

Footnotes in the official text

1.A village-officer in the Punjab has been declared for the purposes of this Act to be a public officer having the custody of a public document-see the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 (17 of 1887), section, 151 (2).

Now in the BSA

As given in the correspondence table of the National Crime Records Bureau (Ministry of Home Affairs). Read both texts before relying on it. NCRB table

76. Certified copies of public documents.

BSA 75

Leading cases

Y. Narasimha Rao v. Y. Venkata Lakshmi (1991)A foreign divorce decree passed by a court lacking jurisdiction under the Hindu Marriage Act, on a ground unknown to that Act, against a wife who did not submit to the forum, cannot be recognised in India.

Questions on this section

2 questions in 12 of our papers cite Section 76. Try these from the free papers:

1. Under Section 75 of the BSA, a public officer having custody of a public document is bound to give a certified copy of it to:
2. Consider the following statements under the BSA: 1. Documents forming the acts, or records of the acts, of public officers, legislative, judicial and executive, of a foreign country are public documents. 2. An officer who, by the ordinary course of official duty, is authorised to deliver copies of a public document is deemed to have its custody for the purpose of giving certified copies. 3. A certified copy given under Section 75 need not state the name and official title of the officer who certifies it. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Practise questions on Criminal Law