Jamshedpur, July 17: The forgotten deed writers in the district have reasons to cheer.

Deputy commissioner Nitin Madan Kulkarni said they would soon start the process of granting licences to deed-writers.

For the past 35 years or more, the East Singhbhum district administration has not issued a single licence for deed writers.

The result ? parties interested to get their deeds registered have to part with more fee to the advocate than what they could have paid the deed writers.

That not a single deed writer has been issued licenses cropped up at a meeting of district officials called by the Assembly?s internal resources committee today.

Chairman of the committee and Dhanbad legislator P.N. Singh expressed his surprise by the revelation.

Singh immediately directed the East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Nitin Madan Kulkarni, who also happens to be the district registrar, to take immediate steps in this direction. ?For the first time, I have come across a district which does not issue a licence for deed writers. As a profession, deed writing would offer job opportunities to several unemployed youths,? said the legislator.

District sub-registrar Shahdeo Mehra said according to norms set by the government, there is provision to provide licences to professional deed-writers by conducting a written examination to assess their skills prior to issuing licences. The same is not valid for the experienced deed-writers who are in the profession for more than five years.

According to sources, there are over 100 deed-writers who do their business within the confines of old and new buildings of civil court, who urgently need licences to overcome the dependence on advocates.

Tapan Mandal has been writing deeds for the last 35 years but does not have a licence.

Mandal and many others like him are compelled to approach an advocate who could put his/her signature in what has been drafted by them.

?In the past 10 years, several times we have applied to the district registrar-cum-deputy commissioner for a license but our pleas fell on deaf ears. We have even submitted challans worth Rs 50 every time while applying for the licences,? Mandal told The Telegraph.

Deed-writing, inherited from past generations, is losing its value due to the indifferent attitude of the district administration.

Mona Sarkar, a deed-writer at the district civil court, rues that after preparing a draft, they have to depend on an advocate for his signature.

?If a licence is issued by the registrar office, we can put our own signature,? she said.

However, B.N. Aggrawal, an advocate, said they also double up as deed writers and there is nothing wrong in it. ?There are many advocates who solely depend on deed writing for their livelihood. The advocates know the technicalities involved in deed-writing involving big deals,? he said.

If the deputy commissioner seriously pursues deed-writers? woes, people like Mandal and Sarkar will taste the fruit of years of patience.