Kurian Joseph, J.

1. What is the evidentiary value of the basic document produced before the reference court, in the absence of independent evidence leading to the circumstances in which the sale came to be made, is the question for consideration in this appeal filed by the State.

2. S.51A of the Land Acquisition Act dealing with the acceptance of certified copy as evidence reads as follows:

"In any proceeding under this Act, a certified copy of a document registered under the Registration Act, 1908 (16 of 1908), including a copy given under S.57 of that Act, may be accepted as evidence of the transaction recorded in such document."

It is now trite law that the said Section only provides for the admission of a certified copy in the place of the original document. It is also the settled law as of now that merely because a certified copy of a registered document is produced before court it does not mean that the contents of the same are proved without examining the necessary witnesses. The Bench decision of this Court in State of Kerala v. Saidali (1999 (2) KLT 617) that it was not necessary to examine the parties associated with the document in order to prove the transaction