762 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: Are there other powers given to them now ?
Dr. Ambedkar: They will be the Notaries Public who will be doing the work of the Notaries Public outside even the Negotiable Instruments Act.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: Under this Bill. But at present they perform their duties only under the Negotiable Instruments Act.
From a perusal of this Bill, I find that as a matter of fact a totally new institution is sought to be brought about in India now. The history of this institution is very interesting; it arose out of an ancient English statue—I did not know all this history...
Dr. Ambedkar: It is I that gave that history.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: There is a reference to the Archbishop and then the Master of Faculties in England but all this is Jargon to us and we do not understand it. What I understand is this. Today in the whole of India the lawyers execute instruments—a sale deed, a mortgage deed, a gift deed—and all this is done either by petition—writers or by lawyers. I can speak with authority so far as Punjab is concerned and there every lawyer is competent to write out a deed. Where petition-writers are there, they do this business and lawyers generally do not do it. By law they are authorized to do it. So far as the Oath Commissioners are concerned, they attest documents which are produced in courts. There are certain provisions in the Civil Procedure Code according to which affidavits have got to be attested and they are to be produced in courts. Besides this, there are many other things which have got to be attested by these Oath Commissioners and whenever a person wants to create an alibi in a criminal case, then also the certificates of these Oath Commissioners are utilized for the purpose of getting a document or two attested on a particular date.
Dr. Ambedkar: I did not know that sort of thing happened in the Punjab.