164. Power to make copies of damaged volumes of any register, to prepare and insert reconstructed folios

Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.

(1)

Where the Director-General is satisfied that any volume of any register kept under this Act has been so damaged as to render that volume incapable of being mended, he may cause a copy thereof to be made and authenticated in such manner as he may direct.

(2)

Any copy made and authenticated under the provisions of subsection (1) shall replace the volume of which it is a copy, and shall for all purposes be deemed to have the same legal force and effect as the volume which such copy replaces.

(3)

The Director-General shall cause every damaged volume of which a copy has been made under the provisions of subsection (1) to be preserved as long as it is reasonably practicable for any reference which may be necessary.

(4)

Where the Director-General, after due investigation, is satisfied that any folio of any volume of any register has been lost and cannot be recovered or that any such folio has been permanently mutilated or so obliterated or damaged as to render the entries or any material part of the entries therein illegible, he may cause a reconstructed folio to be prepared.

(5)

No folio shall be reconstructed as provided in subsection (4) except in accordance with the prescribed procedure, providing—

(a)

for evidence to be admitted and used by the

Director-General in ascertaining the particulars originally contained in the lost or mutilated or damaged folio ;

(b)

for the giving of notice by the Director-General of the preparation of the reconstructed folio ;

(c)

for the lodging of objections by any person affected by any of the particulars contained in the folio to be reconstructed ; and

(d)

for the holding of an inquiry by the Director-General into any such objections.

(6)

Where any folio has been reconstructed by the

Director-General in accordance with the preceding provisions of this section, the Director-General shall authenticate the reconstructed folio in the prescribed manner and shall thereafter cause the reconstructed folio to be inserted in the appropriate volume of the register in the place formerly occupied by the lost folio or in place of the mutilated or damaged folio, or in a copy of a volume prepared under the provisions of this section, as the case may be, and the reconstructed folio, when so authenticated and inserted, shall for all purposes be deemed to have the same legal force and effect as the folio which such reconstructed folio replaces.

(7)

The Director-General may, after such inquiry as he may deem necessary, correct any clerical error or omission which may be discovered in any entry in any register or in any certificate kept or issued under the provisions of this

Act and for that purpose may recall any such certificate and amend the same or issue a fresh certificate in its place.

Read on from s 165