certified copy

A public officer who has custody of a public document that any person has a right to inspect must give a copy on demand and payment, with a certificate at the foot that it is a true copy. The certificate is dated, signed with the officer's name and designation, and sealed where the officer uses a seal (s.75 BSA, old s.76 Evidence Act).

Certified copies are a form of secondary evidence and may be produced to prove the contents of the public document. In civil practice a certified copy of the judgment or decree is needed to file an appeal, and the time spent obtaining it is excluded when computing limitation.

Example

The plaintiff proved the mutation entry by producing a certified copy issued by the Tahsildar, which is admissible as secondary evidence of a public document.

In Indian law

• Section 75, Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (old s.76, Evidence Act) (certified copies of public documents)
• Section 12(2), Limitation Act, 1963 (time requisite for obtaining a copy of the decree or order excluded)

See also

public document · secondary evidence · appeal

Read more in the study notes

• Kinds of accounts, opening an account, and special classes of customers (Banking Law)
• Penal provisions for dishonour of cheques (ss.138-148) and the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891 (Banking Law)
• Judgment: pronouncement, contents and orders after conviction (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
• Documentary evidence: primary and secondary evidence, and electronic and digital records (sections 56 to 63) (Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam)
• Proof of documents, public and private documents, presumptions as to documents, and exclusion of oral by documentary evidence (sections 64 to 103) (Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam)
• Foreign judgments (sections 13 and 14) (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)