19 appointed as Public Notaries

Nineteen persons from across the country were on Friday appointed to serve as public notaries in the presence of Chief Magistrate (ag), Sherdell Isaacs.

The appointments were made in accordance with the Public Notaries Act Cap 4:02.

A public notary is an official appointed by the Office of the President to serve the public in matters such as those regarding estates, deeds, and powers of attorney.

The newly appointed notaries are attorneys Sase Gunraj, Pauline Chase, Devindra Kissoon, Sueanna Lovell, Teni Housty, Azeena Baksh, Joycelin Kyte-Thomas, Rosalie Robertson, SC, Horatio Edmondson, Manoj Narayan, Nigel Hawke, Arudranauth Gossai, Mr Kamal Ramkarran, Sanjeev Datadin, Gaumattie Singh, Timothy Jonas, Emily Dodson, Shaun Allicock and Kashir Khan.

The functions of a public notary include authorisation of certain legal documents, acknowledgments of deeds and other conveyances, and the protesting of notes and bills of exchange.

Attorney Sase Gunraj, one of the newly appointed officials, said the current pool of public notaries has waned over the years, and emphasised the need for these officials to interact with and serve the public directly.

“Notaries public serve a very important role in the legal and general architecture of our country. They touch the lives of so many people. For example, if you need to change your name, or you have to do a deed poll, the execution of that has to be done in the presence of a notary public.”

He said given the geographic spread of the appointments, persons living in the various administrative regions will have improved access to these officials.