( 1 ) WHAT appears prima facie to be an insignificant and inconsequential aspect of dicial proceedings has however assumed significance in my view as it is a matter of y-to-day recurrence witnessed,by me sitting on the Original Side. Can a document marked as an exhibit only when it has been proved? Does mere endorsing of an exbit number on the document tant amounts to expression of judicial opinion on its oof?

( 2 ) BEFORE me, the plaintiff is standing in the witness box. His pleaded case is that he had delivered certain documents to a transporter in the presence of Notary Public and the Notary Public had made a report of the proceedings which had taken place in his presence. The plaintiff has in his deposition REFERRED TO to the report of the Notary Public. Before the Court Master could endorse an exhibit number on the report of the Notary Public, counsel for the defendants has sprung up to raise an objection on the document being so endorsed staling - "the document has not yet been proved; how it can be marked as an exhibit?"

( 3 ) NOT only the counsel in the case, but also other members of the Bar usually appearing on the Original Side and present in the Court have stated that it has been a practice of this Court not to mark a document as an exhibit so long as it has not been proved and endorsing of a document with an exhibit mark is treated as a proof of the document pre-empting the right of the parly disputing the document to contend at the final hearing that the document was not proved in the manner contemplated by law.

( 4 ) I am told that in accordance with the practice of this Court :- (i) The documents which are admitted by the opposite parties during the process of admission/denial of the documents conducted either in the Court or before the Joint Registrar, are marked as EX. P- 1, P-2 or Ex. D-1 and D-2 and so on; (ii) The documents which are tendered in evidence during the examination of any witness are marked as Ex. PW. 1/l, Ex. PW1/2, PW. 2/1 or Ex. DW. 1/1, DW. 1/2, DW. 2/1 and so on; the earlier part denoting the number of the wilness and the latter part denoting serial number of the documents which come to be tendered in evidence during the statement of that wilness; that is to say a fresh serial number on the documents begins with the examination of every new witness; (iii) Those documents which are insisted on being marked as Exhibit by one party but disputed by the other or when for any reason it become necessary to mark any document for the purpose of identification it is marked as Ex. A and EX. B and so on i. e. by using an alphabet and not a number.

( 5 ) I requested the learned memebers of the Bar to enlighten me on the source or foundation of this practice whether in any act or in any rules or practice directions. None has obliged me. I can presume that there is none.

( 6 ) LET me now look at the law. Any document filed by either parly passes through three stages before it is held proved or disproved. These are : First stage : when the documents arc Filed by either party in the Court; these documents though on file, do not become part of the judicial record; Second stage: when the documents are tendered or produced m evidence by a party and the Court admits the documents in evidence. A. document admitted in evidence becomes a part of the judicial record of the case and constitutes evidenee. Third stage: the documents which are held proved, not proved or disproved when the Court is called upon to apply its judicial mind by reference to Section 3 of the Evidence Act. Usually this stage arrives 31 the final hearing of the suit or proceeding.

( 7 ) ORDER 13 Rule 4 sub-rule (1) of the Civil Procedure Code provides as under :- 4. ( 1 ) Subject to the provisions of the next following sub-rule, there shall be endorsed on every document which has been admitted in evidence in the suit the following particulars, namely :- (a) the number and title of the suit, (h) the name of the person produced the