Report No. 25

12. Criticism of section 510 before the 1955 amendment.-

In this connection, it may be pointed out that before the amendment of 1955, section 510 did not contain any provision for summoning the Chemical Examiner, etc., as a witness in Court, although section 509 of the Code contained such a provision. This defect in the law was pointed out by the courts1. The section was accordingly amended in 1955 to meet these objections. As already pointed out2, it may not therefore, be advisable to embody a provision in the law which altogether prohibits the summoning of the officer concerned in court and thus deprives the accused of an opportunity of testing the correctness of the opinion given by him.

1. See cases referred to in App IV.

2. See para. 11, supra.