May 05, 2008	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 28, 1429

KARACHI, May 4: Many notaries public are operating on the City Courts premises for attestation of documents, preparation of freewill contracts and acknowledgement of signatures. However, legal formalities are seldom completed and often these operators become an instrument in preparation of illegal documentations.

Sources said about 25 notaries, some of them without having valid licences, were working in the City Courts limits. Besides, they said, many other notaries public were operating in difference parts of the city. However, it was observed that a number of them were illegally using the stamps and signatures of their parents or grandparents, while the notary public whose licences were either suspended or expired were still in this business since the authorities concerned have failed to adopt a proper mechanism to monitor or halt such activities.

The Sindh home department issues licences to notaries public for attestation and acknowledgement of documents, freewill contracts, signatures, etc. The department can cancel such licences if it finds a notary public guilty of misconduct or misusing his authority, while the bar association concerned can also forward its recommendations to the home department for the cancellation of licences if they find a notary public guilty of any wrongdoing.

Legal experts emphasised proper monitoring and maintaining of complete data pertaining to the attestation and urged the authorities concerned to make the process of renewal and issuance of licences transparent.Advocate Maqbool-ur-Rahman said that legalities involved in attestation of documents were being ignored. Most of the notaries, he said, did not bother about proper verifications of documents they attested as they charged extra money for the attestation of disputed or bogus documents like sale deeds and freewill contracts, which was one of the main reasons behind the increase in property and family disputes.

He said there must be proper monitoring of the notaries public. If it was not possible, the authority of attestation should be given to the clerk of the court (COC) to make the system fair and transparent, he added.

A senior lawyer, Naheed Afzal, said, “We have an American concept of the notary public where its attestation could not be challenged in court.” However, he alleged that the illegal financial benefits were being claimed by the authorities concerned for issuing licences to the incompetent people who even did not have a slight know-how of the status of such documents. “They (notary public) do not fulfill legal requirements and the attestation for them merely becomes a source of earning,” he added.

Advocate Nadeem Hashmi said the only way to improve the system was to hand over the authority of issuance and suspension of the licences to the high court registerar, who on the recommendations of the bar association concerned would issue or suspend the licences of notaries, while the investigation team of high court should monitor the process.

Karachi Bar Association President Mahmoodul Hasan said about 20 to 25 notaries, who got licences from the home department, were operating on the City Court premises.

“Whenever we get any complaint against a notary public of misconduct or misuse of authority, an inquiry is conducted and we take legal action if he is found guilty by recommending the matter to the home department for the cancellation of his licence,” he said.

When Sindh Home Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan was asked for his version in his regard, he said that applications for notary public licences were received by the pervious management, which were immediately accepted and the licences were hurriedly issued to the applicants. However, the licences at present were being issued after proper verification, he said, adding that some notaries did not even submit their documents while applying for licences.

The home secretary admitted that the government had received some complaints that some notaries were operating without holding a valid licence. He said that steps were being taken to warn the public about them.