Mitali Palnitkar
Published On: January 24, 2022 at 15:04 IST
Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda Appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to drop the proposed Amendment to Section 5 of Notaries Act, 1952.
The Amendment seeks to restrict the term of a Notary to 5 years and imposes a limitation on the number of terms of renewal of a Notary Certificate of Practice. The maximum term of a Notary would be 15 years as per the proposed Amendment.
No limit is imposed by the existing Law on the number of times extension of appointment by a Notary can be sought.
Mr. Gowda wrote a letter in the interest of more than seventy-five thousand Notaries in the country. According to him, the Notaries would be prejudiced and disadvantaged by the proposed Amendment.
The letter stated, “The transition of an Advocate to a Notary is permanent and irreversible. Law is dynamic in nature and the Profession of Law is evolving at a pace faster than ever. In such circumstances, it is untenable to expect Notaries who haven’t practised Law for over 15 years to return to the profession of Advocacy and compete with experienced Advocates.”
The letter also highlighted the doubt raised by Karnataka State Notaries Welfare Trust’s letter which stated that the proposed Amendment was violative of Articles 14, 19, 21 and 309 of the Indian Constitution.
Mr. Gowda requested the Prime Minister to drop the proposed Amendment in the best interest of the Notaries. A copy of letter was also sent to Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Law and Justice.
The Draft Notaries Amendment Bill was published by the Government in December 2021.