JUDGMENT - Bharucha S.P. J -The question to be decided arises in the context of a copy of the return of allotments filed by the 8th defendant Company with the Registrar of Companies and an extract of the Annual Return also so filed, both certified to be true by the Registrar under section 610 of the Companies Act. The said true copy and extract have been admitted on record as the 1st defendant's exhibits (at Exhibits 17 and 18). The question is: is the truth of their contents established prima facie as Mr. Nariman, learned counsel for the 1st defendant contends, or must the truth thereof be proved?

2. It is necessary to set out the relevant provisions of the Evidence Act In section 3 a document is defined as any matter expressed or described-ed upon any substance by means of letters, figures or marks or by more than one of those means, intended to be used or which may be used for the purpose of recording that matter. Again in section 3, a fact is said to be proved when after considering the matters before it, the Court either believes it to exist or considers its existence so probable that a prudent man ought, under the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the suppositi

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