EVIDENCE (AMENDMENT) BILL

[Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair]

Order for Second Reading read.

The Second Minister for Law (Prof. S. Jayakumar): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

Sir, this short Bill is to facilitate the use of microfilm evidence of documents kept by Government departments and by statutory bodies specified in the Schedule to the Bill. It simplifies the legal requirements for a copy or print from a microfilm of any document in the possession of the Government or of a specified statutory body to produced in proof of the contents of the original document in any legal proceedings. This will meet the needs of many Government departments and statutory bodies which find it convenient and less costly to microfilm their records. Microfilming will not only result in substantial savings by reducing storage costs but has the additional advantage of greater durability (as paper tends to deteriorate with time) and furthermore speeds up retrieval of records.

Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is now possible under section 67 of the Evidence Act for microfilm evidence of a document to be used as secondary evidence in legal proceedings where the original has been destroyed. The requirements of the law as they stand, however, pose problems for the use of such evidence. For example, before microfilm prints are admitted in court proceedings as secondary evidence, it must be proved to the court's satisfaction that the microfilming process was properly and accurately carried out. This in turn requires evidence to be given by witnesses, preferably the person or persons who were involved in the microfilming process. This of course can be difficult, especially after a prolonged lapse of time to ascertain and trace such persons. This can be a time-consuming and inconvenient exercise for a Government department or statutory board in cases, for example, where such persons have left the service or have been posted elsewhere.

Since Government departments and statutory bodies now tend to keep records in microfilm form, this Bill will facilitate the admissibility of microfilm evidence of such documents as proof of the contents of the original document in any legal proceedings without the need to produce witnesses to testify that the microfilming process was properly and accurately carried out. The Bill provides for microfilm prints to be admitted in evidence upon a certificate (by a public officer or an employee of a specified statutory body having custody or control of the document) certifying that the microfilm was taken in order to keep a permanent record of the document and that the original document was subsequently destroyed, lost or ceased to be in the custody of Government or statutory board concerned.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Prof. S. Jayakumar].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.