Retrospective application of evidence rules confirmed for banking company records and winding-up prosecutions by the company.

Section 45F of the Banking Companies Act was treated as a procedural rule governing the admissibility and proof of banking company books and documents, so it applied retrospectively to pending proceedings unless a contrary intention appeared. The criminal complaint filed by an assistant of the Official Liquidator for and on behalf of the company in winding up was also treated as a proceeding by the banking company within the section's scope. On that reasoning, the company documents were admissible and the challenged order was upheld.

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Issues: (i) Whether Section 45F of the Banking Companies Act, 1949 applied retrospectively to the pending prosecution and governed the admissibility and proof of the banking company's books of account and documents. (ii) Whether the criminal proceeding instituted by the Official Liquidator was a proceeding by or against the banking company and, therefore, within the scope of Section 45F.

Issue (i): Whether Section 45F of the Banking Companies Act, 1949 applied retrospectively to the pending prosecution and governed the admissibility and proof of the banking company's books of account and documents.

Analysis: The provision was treated as one dealing with the admissibility of documents and the mode of proof of entries, which is procedural in character. A change in procedure ordinarily operates retrospectively unless the statute indicates otherwise. Since the section regulated evidence and did not create or take away substantive rights, its application was not confined to proceedings commenced after its introduction in the amended form.

Conclusion: The section applied to the pending proceeding retrospectively, in favour of the respondent.

Issue (ii): Whether the criminal proceeding instituted by the Official Liquidator was a proceeding by or against the banking company and, therefore, within the scope of Section 45F.

Analysis: The complaint had been filed by an assistant of the Official Liquidator for and on behalf of the company in winding up pursuant to authority of the Court. A prosecution launched in that manner was treated as a proceeding by the company through its liquidator and as an integral part of the winding up process. The width of the statutory words was not curtailed by the heading of the Part in which the section appeared.

Conclusion: The prosecution was a proceeding by the banking company and fell within Section 45F, in favour of the respondent.

Final Conclusion: The challenged order admitting the company documents was upheld and the revision failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory rule governing the admissibility and proof of evidence is procedural and, unless a contrary intention appears, applies retrospectively to pending proceedings; a prosecution instituted by the Official Liquidator for and on behalf of a company in winding up is a proceeding by the company for the purpose of such a provision.

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