CHANDRASEKHARAN, K. K. Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Is the action of the respondents in refusing to renew the certificates of the petitioners for practising as Notaries illegal and violative of the Notaries Act, 1952 or the Rules framed thereunder This is the primary question that arises for consideration in this bunch of cases. Learned Counsel for the parties have referred to the facts in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 17061/2003. These may be briefly noticed.

(2.) The petitioner was appointed as a Notary in the year 1984. His appointment was periodically renewed. On June 4,1999, his prayer for extension of the certificate was accepted. With effect from June 23,1999, he was given extension for a period of three years. Before the expiry of this period of 3 years, the petitioner submitted an application dated May 17, 2002 for the grant of further extension. When the application was not considered and decided, he approached this Court through a petition under Art.226 of the Constitution, viz. O.P. No. 27241/2002. The Court disposed of the petition vide its Order dated September 26, 2002 with a direction to the competent authority to decide.

(3.) In pursuance to the direction given by the Court, the respondent - authority considered the petitioner's application. Vide Order dated April 23, 2003, the application was rejected on the ground that the quota for District Kollam had already been exhausted. A copy of this order has been produced as Ext. P-5. The petitioner alleges that the Central Government issued a Notification dated May 9, 2001. A copy of this notification has been produced as Ext. P-8. By this notification, the Central Government had amended the Notaries Rules, 1956. Clause (d) was added to the original R.2 and a provision for insertion of a schedule was made. Still further, sub-rule 4A was added to R.8. In the schedule, the total number of Notaries that could be appointed by the Central and State Government in different States was specified. So far as the State of Kerala is concerned, the number was fixed at 375 each.