Rajesh Bindal, J.

The petitioner has approached this court impugning the order dated 14.1.2016, passed by respondent No. 2, vide which his application for renewal of Certificate of Practice as Notary was rejected on the ground that the application was not filed six months before the expiry of period of validity.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that no doubt, as per the Rule 8B of the Notaries Rules, 1956 (for short, 'the Rules'), application for renewal has to be filed six months before the date of expiry of period of validity, however, the appropriate government has been given power to relax the condition considering the reasons stated in the application. In the case in hand, the Certificate of Practice of the petitioner was to expire on 8.11.2015. He filed the application on 7.9.2015. The delay occurred on account of the reason that father of the petitioner was not well and he expired on 3.1.2016. The aforesaid reasons were mentioned in response to the notice issued to the petitioner. In support of his plea that delay in filing the application is not fatal, reliance was placed upon the judgments of Delhi High Court in W.P. (C) No. 8503 of 2015—Neelam Sharma v