Then, we come to another piece of evidence (Ext. 1), the deed of lease. Admittedly, the original of the same was not appropriately proved, but a copy was sought to be tendered and there is no statement about due searches, which were required to be made by the plaintiffs. That being the position and since there had been no explanation about such and due searches, agreeing with Mr. Roy Choudhury. we feel and observe that under Section 65(c) of the Evidence Act, the same was also appropriately taken into evidence. In support of the submissions as above, Mr. Roy Choudhary, firstly referred to the case of Smt. Bobba Suramma v. Smt. Peddireddi Chandramma, , where it has been observed that secondary evidence can be led in under Section 65, only in certain circumstances, one of which is that when the original has been destroyed or lost, apart from observing that in order to claim the benefits of Section 65, there should be credible evidence of the loss of the original and there must be sufficient proof of the search for the original, to render secondary evidence admissible and thus, it may be established that the party has exhausted all the sources and means in the search of the documents which were available to him. While on the point, Mr. Roy Choudhary also had secondly, placed reliance on the observations in the case of Biswanath Agarwalla v. Smt. Dhapu Debi Jajodia, , where also, this Court has specifically laid down, while dealing with the question of loss of document and necessary proof thereof, that to record a finding that the document is lost and to enable a party to produce a certified copy thereof, it must be established that a thorough search had been made in places where it was likely to be found and of persons likely to have possession of the same. In this case, admittedly there was paucity of such evidence, as was necessary for the purpose of having the copies of the concerned documents tendered in evidence and that being the position, we feel that the copy of the deed which was marked as Exhibit 1, was also improper.
Calcutta High Court
Smt. Sulochana Devi Bubna vs Gobinda Chandra Nag And Ors. on 30 September, 1985
Equivalent citations: AIR 1986 Cal 430
Bench: M Roy, A Sengupta
