Nishka Srinivas Veluvali
Published On: February, 12 2022 at 15:40 IST
The Madras High Court has ruled that the notarial activities of the Notaries made in foreign land will be given legal recognition by the Indian Courts even though there is absence of “Reciprocity” as per Section 14 of the Notaries Act.
The High Court held this ruling while answering the query of whether a sale deed registered with the power of Attorney which was framed in Malaysia is valid or not.
The Division Bench of Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and Justice Krishnan Ramasamy stated that, “Once the original document of power of Attorney executed and attested as given in the Section 85 of the Evidence Act is produced, it is open to the Court to presume that all the necessary requirements for the proper execution of the Power of Attorney have been duly fulfilled”.
Section 85 of the Evidence Act provides a presumption of authenticity in the favour of the notarised Power of the Attorney.
Section 85 also allows the Court to presume that every document purported to be Power of Attorney which has been duly implemented and authenticated by the Notary Public can be taken into consideration.
However, Section 14 of the Notaries Act contradicts Section 85 by stating that the “Reciprocal” arrangements for recognition of the Notarial Acts made in the Foreign nations do not consist of Malaysia as of date.
The Court, at the outset, ventured to determine if the validity of the Section 85 of the Evidence Act is being monitored by the Section 14 of the Notaries Act.
The Court thus, referring to previous Judgements Ordered that the Notaries Act does not restrict the implacability of Section 85 of the Evidence Act especially in this period of “Global commerce”.
With regard to the Petition filed by the daughter the Court directed that, “Even for filing the above Writ Petition under Article 226, there was enormous delay on the part of the Writ Petitioner, who is the daughter of the owner of the property, as the same had been filed after 14 years. It is opposite to refer to the Judgement of the Honourable Supreme Court, it is vexatious litigation filed by the Appellant, as neither any reason was furnished for not going before the Civil Courts nor any explanation was given for the delay and laches”.
The Madras High Court thus dismissed the Writ Appeal filed by the daughter of the original owner to put aside the sale deed of the property.