NARAYANLAL JODHRAJ SINGHAL Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India which has come up before me on a reference by a Division Bench, the petitioner challenges the validity of the appointment of the respondent No. 4 Shrimati Nirmala Rani Potdar as a notary for the Indore civil district and seeks a writ of certiorari for quashing an order passed by the Government in June 1963 with regard to her appointment as notary.

(2.) THE matter arises thus. The appointment of notaries is regulated by the Notaries Act, 1952, and the Rules made thereunder Section 3 of the Act gives to the Stale Government the power to appoint any legal practitioners or other persons possessing the prescribed qualifications as notaries for the whole or any part of the State. Section 15 gives to the Central Government the power to make rules providing, inter alia, for the qualifications of a notary, the form and manner in which applications for appointment as a notary may be made and the disposal of such applications. The Notaries Rules, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules) have been formed by the Central Government in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Section 15 of the Act. Rule lays down qualifications for appointment as a notary. It says, that no person shall be eligible for appointment as a notary unless on the date of the application for such appointment he is cither a notary public appointed by the Master of Faculties in England, or has been practicing as a legal practitioner for at least ten years. Under Rule 4 an application for appointment has to be made in the form of a memorial addressed to the competent authority and in the prescribed form. By Rule 6 it is provided that the competent authority shall examine every application received by him, and if he is satisfied that the applicant does not possess the qualifications specified in Rule 3 or that any previous application of the applicant for appointment as a notary was rejected within six months before the date of the application, shall reject it and inform the applicant accordingly. If the competent authority docs not reject the application on the ground of the applicant not being qualified for appointment, then he is required to publish in the Gazelle a notice of the application inviting objections, if any, to the appointment of the applicant as a notary. The objections have to be submitted within fourteen days of the publication of the notice. The competent authority may also ascertain from the Bar Council, Bar Association, Incorporated Law Society or other authority in the area where the applicant proposes to practice, the objections. If any, to the appointment of the applicant as notary, to be submitted within the time fixed for the purpose. Thereafter, as prescribed by Rule 7, the competent authority has to make a report to the Government recommending either that the application may be granted for the whole or any part of the area to which it relates or that it may be rejected, after holding such enquiry as he thinks fit and after giving the applicant an opportunity of making his representations against the objections, if any, received under Rule 6 (2 ). Rule 7, in so far as it is material here, runs as follows :

(3.) THE respondent No. 4 Nirmala Rani Potdar submitted her memorial for appointment as a notary on 20th September 1962. A notice of her application was published in the Gazette on 11th January 1963 inviting objections to her appointment. Only two persons objected to her appointment. The petitioner Naravanlal was not one of them. He did not prefer any objection to her appointment within the time prescribed by Rule 6 (2 ). The opinion of the Bar Association, Indore, was also invited in the matter of her appointment and the Association stated that it had no objection to the appointment of Nirmala Rani as a notary. On a consideration of the application of the respondent No. 4 and the objections received to her appointment the competent authority, namely, the District Judge, made a report to the Government on 30th April 1963 that Nirmala Rani Potdar should be appointed as a notary for the Indore civil district. This recommendation of the District Judge was accepted by the Government and accordingly Nirmala Rani was appointed as notary.