e-StampNotary
Two different offices
An Oath Commissioner is a distinct office. Commissioners for oaths are appointed by the High Court, and their function is tied to affidavits used in proceedings before the courts within that appointment. The appointment comes from the Court; it is not a notarial appointment and it is not the same list of powers.
A Notary is appointed under the Notaries Act, 1952 by the Central or a State Government and holds a certificate of practice for a named area. The power to take your affidavit comes from section 8(1)(e) of that Act, which authorises a Notary to administer an oath to, or take an affidavit from, any person. Two further statutes name the Notary expressly for affidavits: section 139(aa) of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, and section 333(1)(c) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
If what you need is an affidavit sworn on oath — for a bank, a school, an employer, the RTO, a passport annexure, a Mamlatdar's office, a name change, a lost document — a Notary can administer that oath, and this office does it. You do not need to find an Oath Commissioner for ordinary affidavit work.
When the distinction actually bites
It bites in court filings. Some courts and some registries have their own practice about whose jurat they will accept on an affidavit filed in a proceeding before them, and that practice can favour a commissioner appointed by the High Court for that court. If your affidavit is going into a pending case, the safest step is to ask the advocate conducting the matter, or the filing counter, what that court accepts — before the document is drafted, not after it is sworn. Our page on notary work for court matters goes into this.
Outside litigation, the distinction rarely arises. The bank, the college and the RTO are asking for a sworn affidavit, and a Notary's jurat under signature and official seal is what they receive and accept every day.
What “on oath” means
The oath is administered to a person, not to a document. You appear, you are identified, the contents are put to you, you affirm them and you sign in front of the Notary. That sequence is the substance of the act; everything else is paperwork. It is also why nobody can swear an affidavit on your behalf, and why a document cannot be sworn by email or over a video call. See outstation notary work for what can and cannot be done at a distance.
Section 8(2) of the Notaries Act, 1952 provides that nothing is a notarial act unless done under the Notary's signature and official seal. Rule 12 of the Notaries Rules, 1956 describes that seal: plain, circular, five centimetres, bearing the Notary's name, area of appointment, registration number and the expiry date of the certificate of practice, circumscribed NOTARY, with the name of the appointing Government. A stamp pad impression of a name and a signature is not that.
What it costs
Rule 10(1) of the Notaries Rules, 1956 caps the fee for administering an oath or taking an affidavit at ₹35. That is a maximum fixed by the Rules. Rule 10(2) requires the rates to be displayed conspicuously inside and outside the office, and Rule 11(9) requires a receipt. Stamp duty is a separate government levy, charged under the Gujarat Stamp Act, 1958 at the rate currently prescribed — we confirm the figure at the counter, and we issue the e-stamp for the affidavit in the same visit. Drafting is separate again. The breakdown is set out in notary charges in Vadodara.
Other things people mean by this search
- “Notary public near me” — same thing, same office.
- “Affidavit banavva” — drafting plus stamp plus oath. We do all three in one visit, in Gujarati or English.
- “Magistrate attestation” — a genuinely different requirement that a notarial seal does not satisfy. Read the form.
- “Gazetted officer attestation” — also different, also not substitutable. See what a notary cannot do.
Where we are
The office is at Chhani Jakatnaka Circle in Vadodara, and the Notary attends at the client's address where that is what the situation needs. Every act is recorded in the Notarial Register in Form XV as Rule 11(2) requires, and Rule 15 keeps a Notary's office within the area named in the certificate of practice.
What to bring
- Original photo identity of the deponent — Aadhaar, passport or driving licence
- A photocopy of that identity document for the file
- The form or letter that told you an affidavit was needed
- Supporting papers the affidavit will refer to, by number
- If the affidavit is for a pending case, the case number and the court
- Exact spellings of names and addresses as they must appear