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Digitally

signed

2026:CGHC:22401

by

SHAYNA

KADRI

NAFR

HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR

WPC No. 4261 of 2022

1 - Sukhlal Dhargave S/o Late Shri Harikirtan Dhargave Aged About 59

Years R/o Pyarelal Chowk, Chikli Chowk Rajnandgaon, District

Rajnandgaon Chhattisgarh

... Petitioner(s)

versus

1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Secretary, Law And Legislative

Affairs Department, Mantralaya Mahanadi Bhawan, Atal Nagar, District

Raipur Chhattisgarh

2 - District And Session Judge Rajnandgaon, District Rajnandgaon

Chhattisgarh

... Respondent(s)

(Cause Title is taken from CIS System)

For Petitioner : Mr. Vibhor Goverdhan, Advocate appearing on

behalf of Mr. Prateek Singh Thakur, Advocate

For State : Mr. Anand Dadariya, Dy. Advocate General

Hon’ble Mr. Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad

Order on Board

12/05/2026

1. By way of instant writ petition, petitioner is seeking following

reliefs :

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“10.1. That, the records pertaining to

thecase of the petitioner may be called

for the kind perusal of this Hon'ble

Court.

10.2 That, the impugnedOrder dated

22.08.2022 (ANNEXURE P/01) may

kindly be set aside and respondents

may be directed to renew the Notary

Certificate of the petitioner and he may

be allowed to profess as Notary /

Advocate.

10.3. That any other relief which this

Hon'ble court may deem fit and just in

the facts and circumstances of the

case.”

2. Facts of the case, as projected, are that the petitioner has

preferred the present writ petition challenging the order dated

22.08.2022 passed by the respondent authorities whereby the

application submitted by the petitioner for renewal of his Notary

Certificate has been rejected. The petitioner is an Advocate by

profession and was appointed as a Notary by the State

Government for Tehsil Rajnandgaon in the year 2009 in

accordance with the provisions of the Notaries Act, 1952 and the

Notaries Rules, 1956. Pursuant thereto, a Notary Certificate dated

03.01.2009 was issued in favour of the petitioner. Thereafter, the

petitioner continuously discharged his duties as a Notary and

Advocate without any complaint or allegation of misconduct. It is

the case of the petitioner that the certificate issued in his favour

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was duly renewed on 13.02.2014 for a further period of five years.

Before expiry of the renewed term, the petitioner again submitted

an application dated 21.08.2018 seeking renewal of his Notary

Certificate before the competent authority in accordance with law.

During consideration of the said application, the respondent

authorities issued communications dated 23.08.2019 and

29.08.2019 directing the petitioner to produce the Notary Register,

receipt books and other relevant documents for scrutiny. In

compliance thereof, the petitioner immediately submitted all the

requisite records and documents before the concerned authority.

It has further been pleaded that certain defects were pointed out

by the respondent authorities in relation to maintenance of entries

in the Notary Register and memorandums were issued seeking

explanation from the petitioner. The petitioner submitted his

explanation stating that in certain entries signatures of executants

were inadvertently not obtained due to bona fide human error and

assured the authorities that such discrepancies would not recur in

future. According to the petitioner, no complaint whatsoever

regarding professional misconduct or any other objection had ever

been received against him during his long tenure as a Notary. It is

further contended that no regular inquiry as contemplated under

the provisions of the Notaries Act, 1952 was ever conducted

against him. The petitioner has further averred that the impugned

action appears to have been taken on the basis of a

communication dated 28.06.2022 issued by the District &

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Sessions Judge, Rajnandgaon; however, no copy of any adverse

report was ever supplied to the petitioner nor was he afforded any

effective opportunity of hearing prior to passing of the impugned

order dated 22.08.2022 rejecting renewal of his Notary Certificate.

Aggrieved by