P&H: Quashed Order Rejecting Renewal of certificate of practice under Notaries Rules; Says Six-Month Filing Rule cannot be treated as uncondonable
High Court has set aside an order refusing to renew a notary’s certificate on the ground that her renewal application was not filed six months before expiry. Rule 8-B of the Notaries Rules, allows Government to relax this timeline and even renew a certificate within one year after expiry.
Before High Court, the petitioner argued that the first proviso to Rule 8-B empowers the Government to condone delay, while the second proviso permits renewal even after expiry if the application is received within one year. The Union’s counsel could not dispute the applicability of this position.
Agreeing, the Court observed that the “six months period prescribed under main part of Rule 8-B is not sacrosanct,” as both provisos authorize relaxation and post-expiry renewal. authority failed to consider the second proviso, which “has enlarged scope of renewal.”
Since the application was filed four months before expiry and there was no...
