Certified copy of registered sale deed admissible as secondary evidence, but it does not by itself prove execution of the original deed.

A certified copy of a registered sale deed is admissible as secondary evidence because it is issued from the registration record maintained by the registering authority, which constitutes a public record of private documents. The copy may therefore be marked as an exhibit without formal proof of its contents. That admissibility, however, does not itself prove execution of the original deed, which remains a separate matter. The challenge to the order treating the certified copy as admissible failed.

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Issues: Whether a certified copy of a registered sale deed is a public document and admissible in evidence as secondary evidence so as to be marked as an exhibit without requiring formal proof.

Analysis: A certified copy of a registered sale deed derives its evidentiary character from the registration record maintained by the registering authority. The registration office keeps a public record of private documents, and a certified copy issued from that record is admissible to prove the contents of the original document. Such admissibility is supported by the provisions relating to public documents, certified copies, and secondary evidence. However, admissibility of the certified copy for proving contents does not dispense with proof of execution of the original document.

Conclusion: The certified copy of the registered sale deed was rightly treated as admissible and could be marked as an exhibit without insisting on formal proof of its contents; the challenge to the impugned order failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A certified copy issued from the registration record of a registered sale deed is admissible as secondary evidence of the contents of the original public record, though it does not by itself prove execution of the original deed.

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