Podiralahamy v. Ran Banda – sllr 1993 volume 2 page 020

In PODIRALAHAMY v. RAN BANDA, the court addressed the issue of whether the Court must retain custody of documents once marked in evidence during a trial. It was held that, pursuant to sections 114 and 154(3) of the Civil Procedure Code, the Court is required to secure and maintain custody of all such documents as part of the permanent record, and any failure in this duty amounts to a substantial procedural irregularity. The decree of the trial court, which had failed to call for and secure key documents (D1 to D10) tendered by the defendant-appellant, was accordingly set aside, and a re-trial was ordered. This decision underscored the importance of strict adherence to statutory provisions regarding the custody and evidence of documents within the judicial process.

Senanayake J. — It was