Notary
This is provided for by the Rules, not a favour
Rule 10(3) of the Notaries Rules, 1956 allows a Notary a travelling allowance of ₹20 per kilometre where he has to travel to do the work. The Rules assume attendance on the client is part of the job. It is not an exception carved out for special cases, and you should not be made to feel you are asking for one.
When it is the right answer
- Illness and immobility. A patient in hospital or recovering at home, a person after surgery, anyone for whom a stairs-and-auto-rickshaw trip is not realistic.
- Elderly parents. Pension life certificates, heirship affidavits, wills and property documents very often involve people in their eighties. Bringing them to a counter is the wrong way round.
- Several signatories at once. A family settlement with six siblings, a partnership deed with four partners, a society resolution — assembling everyone once, at one address, is easier than six separate visits.
- Offices and factories. Vendor agreements, employment contracts and board documents where the authorised signatory cannot leave the premises.
- Hospitals and care homes, where family are already stretched.
The deponent must be able to understand what they are swearing to. We cannot administer an oath to a person who is unconscious, sedated beyond comprehension, or who cannot follow the contents of the document because of their condition. A signature guided by somebody else's hand is not an execution. This comes up most often with a very ill parent and a property document, and the answer is the same every time: no. Where someone genuinely lacks capacity, the route is a court, not a notarial seal — see what a notary cannot do.
What being lucid but bedridden means in practice
It means the visit works perfectly. The Notary reads the contents to the deponent, satisfies himself that the person understands them, administers the oath under section 8(1)(e) of the Notaries Act, 1952 or takes the execution under section 8(1)(a), and applies signature and official seal as section 8(2) requires. Nothing about the act is diluted because it happened in a bedroom. The entry goes into the Notarial Register in Form XV under Rule 11(2) exactly as it would at the counter, and Rule 11(9) requires a receipt in the usual way.
Where the person cannot sign, a thumb impression is workable provided they understand the document. It should be taken carefully, identified in the attestation, and ideally witnessed. Tell us in advance so the document is drafted for it.
Preparing so the visit takes minutes, not hours
The visit is short if the document is finished and the stamp is done. That means telling us beforehand what the document is, who is signing, and what the receiving office asked for, so drafting and the e-stamping happen at our end first. We are a Government authorised e-Stamping centre, CSC ID 136237240013, so the stamp is not a separate errand.
What slows a visit down: a name spelled differently on the Aadhaar than on the document, a missing identity document, a co-signatory who turns out to be at work, or a decision about the contents that the family has not actually made yet. Fifteen minutes on the phone before we set out prevents all four.
If the document you have been asked for is a plain-paper self-declaration, or an online submission, or something the department will accept self-attested, we would rather say so on the phone than travel and charge you. That happens more often than you would think, particularly with passport annexures and anti-ragging undertakings.
Area, and the limits of it
Rule 15 of the Notaries Rules, 1956 requires a Notary to have his office within the area named in his certificate of practice, and the certificate defines where he practises. We attend across Vadodara city — Chhani, Sama, Gotri, Karelibaug, Alkapuri, Manjalpur, Waghodia Road, Akota, Tarsali, Vasna, Nizampura and the rest — and the surrounding taluka. If your address is outside that, say so when you call and we will tell you honestly whether we can act or whether you should instruct a Notary local to that place. More on this at outstation notary work in Gujarat.
Charges
The notarial fee itself is capped by Rule 10(1) — ₹35 for attesting execution and ₹35 for administering an oath or taking an affidavit. The travelling allowance under Rule 10(3) is ₹20 per kilometre. Stamp duty under the Gujarat Stamp Act, 1958 is a separate government levy at the rate currently prescribed, which we confirm before we set out. Drafting is charged on its own. The full picture is in notary charges in Vadodara.
What to bring
- Have original photo identity of every signatory ready at the address
- Photocopies of those identity documents, so nothing has to be arranged on the spot
- All signatories present at the agreed time — a missing party ends the visit
- Any letter from the bank, office or department setting out the requirement
- Supporting papers the document refers to, by number
- A clear address with landmark, floor and lift or stairs, given when you call