Secondary evidence of income-tax records was admissible despite confidentiality, and late production did not bar certified copies.

Certified copies of statements and orders from income-tax proceedings were treated as public documents, so secondary evidence of their contents was admissible under the Evidence Act. Section 54 of the Income-tax Act was read as requiring confidentiality from income-tax officials and preventing compulsory production by the court, but not as an absolute bar where the assessee waives confidentiality. The assessee had a right to inspect such records, and a representative of the estate could obtain certified copies. Late production alone was not a sufficient ground for rejection where the documents met an already pleaded case and did not alter the defence.

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Issues: Whether certified copies of statements and orders from income-tax proceedings were admissible in evidence, notwithstanding the confidentiality provision in section 54 of the Income-tax Act and the late stage at which they were produced.

Analysis: The records in question were treated as public documents. Section 54 of the Income-tax Act was held to be a direction to income-tax officials to maintain confidentiality and to prohibit compulsory production by the Court, but not to create an absolute bar against proof of the contents where the assessee waives confidentiality. As the documents fell within the class of public documents, secondary evidence by certified copies was permissible under the Evidence Act. The assessee was recognised as having a right to inspect statements recorded and orders passed by income-tax officers, and the widow, as representative of the estate, could obtain certified copies. The late production of the documents was not, by itself, a sufficient reason for rejection, especially since they met the defendant's case on the issue already pleaded and would not have altered the nature of the defence.

Conclusion: The certified copies were admissible in evidence, and the objection based on section 54 of the Income-tax Act and lateness of production failed.

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