RECONSTRUCTION OF RECORDS AND REGISTERS DESTROYED OR DAMAGED BY FIRE

 

RECONSTRUCTION OF RECORDS AND REGISTERS DESTROYED OR DAMAGED BY FIRE

(Rules 363 to 368 Criminal Rules and Order)

R. 363. When any records, registers etc. of any Criminal Court are destroyed or damaged by fire, the fact shall at once be reported to the High Court and the Presiding Officer of the Court concerned shall take personal charge immediately of the remnants and proceed with the works of reconstruction of records according to the provisions of this Chapter.

R. 364. (a) If any register relating to any criminal proceeding destroyed

or damaged by fire has been preserved from destruction or damage, the Presiding

Officer of the Court shall take personal charge of the same and shall satisfy

himself that no alteration or erasure has been made in the columns showing the manner of disposal, particulars of offence, plea of the accused, if any, and any order, final or otherwise, passed by the Court. (b) If any alteration or erasure has been noticed by the Presiding Officer in any column of the register as mentioned in sub-rule (a), he shall make careful

enquiry about them. (c) Every entry relating to any of the columns mentioned in sub-rule (a) shall be attested by the Presiding Officer's signature in full and every bona fide alteration shall also be similarly attested.

(d) Presiding Officer, if subordinate to the Sessions Judge, shall also open a small supplementary register showing fully the manner in which action has been taken under this rule and this register shall be sent to the Sessions Judge for safe custody.

R. 365. (a) If the records of any case whether pending or disposed of is destroyed, the Presiding Officer shall take such steps as may be necessary to reconstruct the papers destroyed and for this purpose he may send notice to the lawyers concerned or to any other authority dealing with any matter in connection with the case under orders of the Court or authority of law.

(b) If any list of documents or any exhibit has been destroyed, the same shall be reconstructed by demanding duplicate copies of the same from the who originally filled them in Court.

R. 366. (a) Particulars gathered shall be carefully scrutinised by the Presiding Officer and after being satisfied about their genuineness he shall sign a certificate on each page of the documents reconstructed that the same has been reconstructed under his supervision.

(b) If any register relating to the pending case is available the lawyers concerned shall be allowed to consult the entires of the same and to take notes of them free of charge.

R. 367. (1) Affidavits which are found to have been along with the records may be reconstructed by obtaining copies thereof from the party originally swearing the same with notice to the other party failing which the party concerned shall be asked to fresh

(2) In case any affidavit is required to be re-sworn by any party under sub- rule (1), this may be done without payment of any fresh court fee, if so ordered by the Presiding Officer.

R. 368. The foregoing rules shall, as far as practicable, be followed, in reconstructing the records and registers of the miscellaneous cases.

COMMENTARY

Reconstruction of records. When any record or register is destroyed by fire the fact shall at once be reported to the High Court. The Presiding Officer shall take charge of the remnants of the record and shall take steps for reconstruction of the record.

When any record is lost or damaged on any other ground this matter should also be reported to the High Court before reconstruction of the same. In case of loss of record thorough search is to be made to assure that the record has actually been lost and there is no chance of recovery.

For the purpose of reconstruction of record the Presiding Officer shall give notice to the lawyers of the parties or to any other authority and may call for the copies of the relevant papers from them for the purpose of reconstruction. Regarding documents and copies, the duplicate copies are to be called for from the persons who filed the originals. The registers relating to those records may also be consulted for the purpose of reconstruction. It may be mentioned that the reconstruction of the records should ordinarily be made in presence of the lawyers of both the parties to avoid any future controversy. The reconstruction shall be under the direct supervision of the Presiding Officer of the Court.