The Centre on Tuesday came out with a draft Notaries (Amendment) Bill that seeks to limit the tenure of notaries to 15 years. At present, there is no such cap on tenures.

The draft bill also proposes to digitise the whole notarisation process to prevent “misconduct” and safeguard the interests of the general public.

The law and justice ministry said it wanted to limit the tenures to encourage young lawyers to enter the field.

The proposed amendment empowers the state or the central government to suspend licences for alleged misconduct.

Notarisation is mandatory for various judicial and non judicial process including the filing of affidavits before courts and authorities. Only a person with a minimum of 10 years legal practice or a person with special knowledge of law can become a notary.

In terms of the existing provisions of the Notaries Act, 1952, the certificate of a notary can always be renewed. There are a fixed number of notaries who can operate in fixed areas, keeping in view the commercial importance and the requirement of that particular area.

“It is felt that an opportunity needs to be given to young eligible legal practitioners who are aspiring to serve as Notary Public which may help them to build up their professional excellence.”

In view of the above, it is proposed to restrict the overall term of notaries for a period up to 15 years — an initial term of five years and two renewal terms of five years each.

However, the certificate of those who have sought renewal for the third term will be renewed if their licence expires before the passage of Notaries (Amendment) Act, 2021.

According to the law ministry, it is felt that with the advent of digitisation, the records of Notary Public be also digitised and preserved in digital form in order to prevent misconduct in respect of notarisation and safeguard the interests of general public.

This will help to avoid any fraud, deceit, tampering of records and back-dating of notarization. For the aforesaid purpose, provisions have also been proposed for digitisation and automation of notarial work.

Under Section 10 of the Notaries Act, 1952, the authorities can remove the name of a Notary Publicif found guilty of professional misconduct .

However, there is no provision to suspend the certificate of practice till the completion of inquiry. Consequently, in some cases, despite complaint of prima facie gross misconduct, the notary continues to practice during the pendency of inquiry proceedings.

It is therefore proposed to add provisions in the Notaries Act, 1952 empowering the authorities to suspend a Notary Public against whom a complaint has been received or otherwise, for professional misconduct for such period as deemed appropriate for the conduct of inquiry.