Vol. 15 · pages 776–780

757PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES Public which are outside the Indian. Negotiable Instruments Act are appointed by authorities in Great Britain. The history of this institution is probably interesting. Originally, the appointment of the Notary Public all over England and perhaps even Europe was made by the Pope. It was an ecclesiastical office and the function of that officer was to deal with eccelesiastical matters, that is to say, if a dispute arose as to the seating arrangement in a particular Church, the dispute was decided by the Notary Public. If a question arose as to whether a person who had died was entitled to a public burial or whether he was to be doomed to what was called a private burial in some unrecognised part of the Church, that matter was also decided by the Notaries Public. Later on, certain commercial duties were also attached to the Notaries Public under which they performed the duties of noting, protesting, or preparing or noting honour or dishonour about these transactions. When the Protestant Revolution took place, the authority of the Pope so far as Great Britain was concerned ended, and it was assumed by the British King and the British King transferred the jurisdiction that he had acquired from the Pope in the matter of the appointment of the Notaries Public to the Archbishop of Canterbury who also became his officer, because under the Protestant Revolution, the State became supreme as against the Church and all the officers of the Church became the officers of the State. The Archbishop had attached to him what was called a Court of Faculty, an officer who dealt with the Church matters to which I have already made some reference and in England all the Notaries Public were appointed by what was called the Court of Faculty under the superintendence of the Archbishop of Centerbury. That body also continued to appoint Notaries Public in India. All that we did was that we cut out a little portion from the authority of the Court of Faculty in England which had acquird this legal jurisdiction to appoint Notaries so far as the Negotiable Instruments Act was concerned. The position today in India therefore is that a group of Notaries who deal with documents under the Negotiable Instruments Act are appointed by the Government of India

758 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES while all other documents which do not come under the Negotiable Instruments Act are dealt with by Notaries who are appointed from England. Our constitution, namely, the India (Consequential Provisions) Act, 1949 and Article 372(1) of the Constitution permitted that any officer who was appointed before the Constitution may continue to exercise that authority, so that notwithstanding the fact that India became independent and notwithstanding the fact that the President got the authority to make appointments of Notaries, by virtue of these two provisions I have quoted, these people still continue to function as Notaries although they were appointed by an authority not subject to the Indian Constitution. It is felt very desirable that this anomaly should be ended and that the right of appointment which is now enjoyed by the Court of Faculty should be discontinued. That is the main purpose of this Bill and I do not think that any Member of Parliament can have any objection to it. On the other hand, I believe that many Members of Parliament might well ask as to why these officers were allowed to function even after the Constitution had come into existence. All I can say is that it is better to be late than never. That is the only justification. The main clauses of the Bill are these : Clause 3 empowers the Central Government to appoint Notaries with authority to practice as such any where in India. Each State also is empowered to appoint Notaries within its own territory to function within its jurisdiction. Clauses 4 and 5 say that the Notary will not be entitled to practice unless he gets his name registered and obtains a certificate of practice. He is required to pay a certain fee under the rules. These are prescribed under the authority of Clause 14(2). Clause 6 deals with the annual publication of the lists of Notaries. The Central Government as well as the State Governments are required to maintain a register of Notaries who have got their names registered. Clause 7 deals with the seal of the Notary.

759PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES Clause 8 deals with the functions of the Notary. They are the normal functions which a Notary is required to perform both under the English Law and practice. They have practically been taken from Halsbury’s Laws of England. Clause 9 prohibits any person from practising as a Notary without a certificate of practice. Persons who are already Notaries have been given one year’s time to get themselves registered under this Bill. Clause 10 is the usual clause dealing with the removal of names from the Register of Notaries, if the Notary has committed any act which is said to disqualify him from holding the post of Notary Public. Clause 11 provides that any reference to a Notary Public in any other law is purely interpretational and shall be construed as a reference to a Notary entitled to practice under this Act. Clauses 12 and 13 deal with penalty and congnizance of offences. Clause 13A is a new clause which has been inserted to validate on a reciprocal basis the Notary’s Act done in any foreign country. This is all that the Bill does and I hope that the House will see its way to grant its accord to my motion. Mr. Chairman : Motion moved. “That the Bill to regulate the profession of Notaries be taken into consideration.’’ Shri Sidhva (Madhya Pradesh): This is a very simple Bill. I am very glad that the Hon. the Law Minister has given us a very interesting history. I did not know that the Notaries who were appointed in India were appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. I thought it was done by the Government of India. This was really a place of news. I think, to several of us—at least I did not know that. I want to know the meaning of the word “duly qualified”. Does it mean duly qualified in law ?

760 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Dr. Ambedkar: Not at all. Mr. Chairman: That will be governed by rules framed under clause 14, perhaps.

761PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES * P. D., Vol. 10, Part II, 18th April 1951, p. 740. ** P. D., Vol. 14, Part II, 17th August 1951, pp. 836-838 (37) NOTARIES BILL *The Minister of Law (Dr. Ambedkar) : I beg to move for leave to introduce a Bill to regulate the profession of notaries. Mr. Speaker: The question is : “ That leave be granted to introduce a Bill to regulate the profession of notaries.” The motion was adopted. Dr. Ambedkr : I introduce the Bill. **Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : The amendment has not been supplied in today’s Order Paper, but with your permission. I beg to move: “ That the Bill be referred to a Select Comittee consisting of Dr. Bakhshi Tek Chand, Dr. Panjabrao Shamrao Deshmukh, Shri Deshbhandu Gupta, Shri Gokulbhai Daulatram Bhatt, Pandit Mukut Bihari Lal Bhargava, Shri Prabhu Dayal Himatsingka, Shri Arun Chandra Guha, Shri Rohini Kumar Chaudhuri, Shri Banarsi Prasad Jhunjhunwala, Shri R. K. Sidhva, Shri C. Subramaniam, and the Mover, with instructions to report before the 31st August, 1951.” Now, this is also a new institution. I do not know what obtains in the rest of the Provinces or in the States, but so far as I know there is not such an institution like Notaries Public in all other places except perhaps in big towns. I speak subject to correction. There also the work which is assigned to them is only under the Negotiable Instruments Act. Dr. Ambedkar : No, all. Originally it was only under the Negotiable Instruments Act.