Sworn affidavit and an approver affidavit

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in news?
• What is Sworn affidavit?
• Can anyone make an affidavit at any time?
• What is an approver affidavit?

Why in news?

• Darshan Hiranandani, CEO of the Hiranandani Group has given a “sworn affidavit” to the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha.
• In his affidavit, he made a series of allegations against TMC MP Mahua Moitra and several other individuals.
• Moitra has rejected the contents of what she said was Hiranandani’s approver affidavit on a white piece of paper with no letterhead.

Sworn affidavit

• About
  • An affidavit is a sworn statement a person makes before a notary or officer of the court outside of the court asserting that certain facts are true to the best of that person’s knowledge.
  • Section 3(3) of India’s General Clauses Act, 1897, defines an affidavit as:
    • an affirmation and declaration in the case of persons by law allowed to affirm or declare instead of swearing.
• Supreme Court and Sworn Affidavit
  • In its 1977 ruling in Chhotan Prasad Singh vs. Hari Dusadh, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court said:
    • it is an essential characteristic of an affidavit that it should be made on oath or affirmation before a person having authority to administer the oath or affirmation.

Can anyone make an affidavit at any time?

• The Supreme Court in the Chhotan Prasad Singh case stated that according to the Oaths Act of 1969, any court or person authorized by law or by the agreement of the parties can administer oaths and affirmations.
• However, they can only do this when they are performing their legal duties or using their legal powers as outlined by the law.
• The court also observed that only those magistrates who were acting in the course of their duty could administer oaths and affirmations to the persons making the affidavits.
• Failure to meet this requirement would render the affidavits as “inadmissible” evidence.
• Affidavits are routinely made in the course of legal proceedings or trials.
• They can also be made for other purposes, such as registering one’s property, or to declaring one’s legal heir(s).

Approver affidavit

• In legal terms, an approver is a person who is directly or indirectly concerned, involved or privy to an offence.
• An accomplice or an accused in a case can later turn approver, siding with the prosecution in return for a lesser sentence or pardon.
• Section 306 of the CrPC has provisions for tender of pardon for an accomplice in a crime on condition of his making a full and true disclosure of the whole of the circumstances of the offence within his knowledge relative to the offence.
• There is no legal definition of an “approver affidavit”.

Q1) What is the Oaths Act of 1969?

The Oaths Act of 1969 is an Act of Parliament that consolidates and amends the law relating to judicial oaths. The Act was enacted on December 26, 1969.

Q2) What is India’s General Clauses Act, 1897?

The General Clauses Act of 1897 is India's official Interpretation Statute. It was enacted on March 11, 1897 to combine and expand the General Clauses Acts of 1868 and 1887. The Act covers all fields of law and contains provisions relating to the interpretation of the General Clauses Act and other Indian legislation.

Source: Affidavit, approver: What Mahua, Hiranandani are talking about | New Zealand Ministry of Justice