DOHA: The Ministry of Justice may soon authorise some individuals to attest documents such as power of attorney, agreements, certificates, and sale and purchase deeds, among other things.
Such attestations are presently done by the documentation department of the Ministry of Justice.
The idea to delegate some individuals to do these attestations is to simplify these services for the public and make them available in different areas of the country.
The individuals to be picked for the job would not be from the Ministry of Justice. They may, however, be lawyers and public servants from other government departments.
The authorised individuals will have their official seals which will need to be approved by the Ministry of Justice.
To make the above move, a law regulating the attestation of documents (Number 9 of 1979) is being amended.
The draft of the amendment was approved by the State Cabinet yesterday.
The Cabinet held its routine weekly meeting at the Emiri Diwan chaired by the Prime Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, reports Qatar News Agency (QNA).
According to prominent lawyer, Yusuf Al Zaman, a ministerial decision by the Ministry of Justice was issued earlier which specified what kind of documents could be attested by the ministry-appointed individuals, their accountability and the charges for the attestations. Contacted for comment, Al Zaman told The Peninsula the move to delegate the document attestation work to individuals is to simplify the services and make them easily accessible to the public.
“People could be able to get documents attested in their areas at their convenience instead of queuing up at the justice ministry’s documentation department,” he said. Document attestations by authorised individuals or notaries are a common practice in some European and other countries, including the US, Al Zaman added.
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As per rules, the draft amendment is to be referred by the Cabinet to the Advisory Council for review and recommendations. The Cabinet, at its weekly meeting yesterday, also endorsed a draft law on measurements, which aims to introduce a uniform law for the units of measurement. Once in force, the legislation will see the formation of an expert technical panel — the National Committee of the Measurement — which will put in place control procedures for measuring instruments and inspection procedures and ensure compliance with the law, QNA said.
The Peninsula
