Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 · Chapter V: Of Documentary Evidence · Public documents
Section 77: Proof of other official documents
In plain words
Certain public documents can be proved in particular ways.
- Government acts, orders or notifications: by department records certified by the head of department, or by documents printed by government order.
- Proceedings of Parliament or a State Legislature: by their journals, published Acts or abstracts, or government-printed copies.
- Proclamations, orders or Regulations of the President, a Governor, Administrator or Lieutenant Governor: by copies or extracts in the Official Gazette.
- Municipal or local body proceedings: by copies certified by the legal keeper or printed by the body's authority.
- Foreign executive and legislative acts, and other foreign public documents, by authorised journals or properly certified copies.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
The following public documents may be proved as follows: —
(a) Acts, orders or notifications of the Central Government in any of its Ministries and Departments or of any State Government or any Department of any State Government or Union territory Administration—
(i) by the records of the Departments, certified by the head of those Departments respectively; or
(ii) by any document purporting to be printed by order of any such Government;
(b) the proceedings of Parliament or a State Legislature, by the journals of those bodies respectively, or by published Acts or abstracts, or by copies purporting to be printed by order of the Government concerned;
(c) proclamations, orders or Regulations issued by the President of India or the Governor of a State or the Administrator or Lieutenant Governor of a Union territory, by copies or extracts contained in the Official Gazette;
(d) the Acts of the Executive or the proceedings of the Legislature of a foreign country, by journals published by their authority, or commonly received in that country as such, or by a copy certified under the seal of the country or sovereign, or by a recognition thereof in any Central Act;
(e) the proceedings of a municipal or local body in a State, by a copy of such proceedings, certified by the legal keeper thereof, or by a printed book purporting to be published by the authority of such body;
(f) public documents of any other class in a foreign country, by the original or by a copy certified by the legal keeper thereof, with a certificate under the seal of a Notary Public, or of an Indian Consul or diplomatic agent, that the copy is duly certified by the officer having the legal custody of the original, and upon proof of the character of the document according to the law of the foreign country.
Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 25 August 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 77
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.