Section 493 — Proof of entries in records or documents. Successor to s.279B of the 1961 Act.
Section 493 is in Chapter XXII — Offences and Prosecutions, which runs from section 473 to section 498.
The section is a rule of evidence for prosecutions. Entries in the records or other documents in the custody of an income-tax authority are admitted in evidence in any proceedings for the prosecution of any person for an offence under this Chapter, and all such entries may be proved in either of two ways: under clause (a), by producing the records or other documents in the authority's custody containing the entries; or under clause (b), by producing a copy of the entries certified by the income-tax authority having custody of the records or documents, under its signature, stating that it is a true copy of the original entries and that those original entries are contained in the records or documents in its custody.
A prosecution under this Chapter rests largely on the Department's own files, and requiring the original record to be produced in every case would take working files out of the office for the length of a trial. The section makes the entries admissible and then supplies a certified-copy route as an alternative to production, with the certificate carrying the two statements that give the copy its standing.
The section is limited by its own terms to proceedings for the prosecution of a person for an offence under this Chapter, so it is not a general rule of admissibility for assessment or appellate proceedings. What it makes admissible is the entries, and either route in clauses (a) and (b) proves them — the two are alternatives, so a certified copy stands in place of the original record without any need to explain why the original was not produced. The certificate is not a bare attestation: clause (b) requires the authority having custody to sign it and to state both that it is a true copy of the original entries and that those original entries are contained in the records or documents in its custody.
In a prosecution under this Chapter, the Department relies on entries in its own file recording the dates on which sums were credited. Rather than sending the file to court, the income-tax authority having custody produces a copy of those entries under its signature, certifying that it is a true copy and that the originals are in its custody. Under clause (b) that copy proves the entries, and under the opening words the entries are admitted in evidence in the prosecution.
In a prosecution under this Chapter, where the Department's own records are put in evidence — either as the file itself or, more usually, as a certified copy of the relevant entries signed by the authority holding the file.
shall be admitted in evidence in any proceedings for the prosecution of any person for an offence under this Chapter
stating that it is a true copy of the original entries and that such original entries are contained in the records or other documents in its custody
See the full 1961 to 2025 concordance.