PRODUCTION OF OFFICIAL RECORDS AND DESCRIPTION MADE BY SECTION 162 OF EVIDENCE ACT, 1872.

RTI and the RTS act adjudication has been designed as a need based aim and objective of the demand under public service/utility and definitely reducing the manpower and time limits required for the potential proceedings and results in comparison to the old system maintained by the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (Act  1 of 1872) the law relating to production of un-published official records as evidence in courts, contained in Section 123 , 124 and 162 of the Indian Evidence Act, where in Section 162 states that :-- A witness summoned to produce a document shall, if it is in his possession or power, bring it to court notwithstanding any objection which there may be to its production or to its admissibility. The validity of any such objection shall be decided on by the Court. The Court, if it thinks fit , may inspect the document unless it refers to matter of State, or take other evidence to enable it to determine on its admissibility. If for such a purpose it is necessary to cause any document to be translated, the Court may, If it thinks fit, direct the translator to keep the contents secret, unless the document is to be given in evidence, and, if the interpreter disobeys such direction, he shall be held to have committed an offence under section 166 of the Indian penal Code"For the purpose of these Sections of the aforesaid Act the expression " Officer at the Head of the Department concerned "may be held to mean the officer who is in control of the department and in whose charge records of the department remain. Ordinarily such an officer would be the Secretary to the State Government. but in case of attached offices like Directorate of Industries, or Directorate of Agriculture etc, the Director concerned may be regarded as the "Head of the Department" for these purposes. Only such an officer should be treated as the authority to withhold or give the necessary permission for the production of official documents in evidence.