Hyderabad: Notary service providers make a killing

Hyderabad: In order to prevent fraud most of the revenue-related official paperworks need notarisation - certify genuineness and proper execution of documents. However, complaints continue to pour in against notary centre operators outside the Tahsildar and sub-registrar officers for collecting excessive amounts from people.

The notary makers are also known as the notary public and are authorised to administer oaths and accept an affidavit from any person. There are 16 Tahsils in Hyderabad. Umpteen notary centres operate near these offices as these sell stamp papers, write, edit and frame the content related to official works and notarised documents and stamps with a notary seal along with their registration number and date.

Though charges for various services are fixed by the government, citizens claim that notary centre operators are not following the government rates. Whereas, the government has a fixed price for each document which is not more than Rs 200, these centres fleece the service users..

Mohan Kumar, who visited the Kukatpally Tahsildar office for land-related work said a notary centre charged him Rs. 2,000 for making a notary. "Even poor and middle class people visit government offices for various purposes, but these notary centres outside the government offices are looting innocent people by charging excessive rates for stamp papers, accepting affidavits, and other documentation works.''

For making official paper works, people are forced to shell out huge money at notary centres outside the sub-registrar offices. There are hundreds of notary centres that make deeds, do attestation paperwork, give applications for official works and also create content for various official documents in the city. With no option left, people had to cough up huge money to get their work done.

"Operators of notary centres who pre-obtain bond papers and notary stamps from notarised lawyers are collecting huge amounts. I was charged with Rs 3,000 for my documentation work. They are even charging Rs 10 for one side of the photocopy of identity proofs," said Sadiq Ahmed, who visited Himayat Nagar Tahsildar's office.

Speaking to The Hans India, an anti-corruption activist Sai Kumar said, "The official documentation is mandatory for revenue works. These paper works are done outside the government offices. Like for the sale of common property without any dispute Rs 100 bond paper along with the relevant documents are required.. Notary operators keep these documents in order and also make and attach supporting documents. It also needs to be done online so that the document can be legalised."

He said that there are several complaints from the people against notary operators who are also charging Rs 5,000 for official paperwork before the documents are submitted to the sub-registrar, as notarisation of documents is mandatory.

Kumar demanded that the government should not only fix the fee or rates to be charged by notary centre operators but also set up a help desk to guide people for documentation works and the notary makers should issue an appropriate bill to the people.