What is a Public Notice?
Public notice are notices to the common people or the people effective and they are usually published in newspapers either by government agencies or legislative bodies. They are required to make public notices in the rulemaking proceedings so that the members of the public are open to making their opinion on certain proposals before a bill is drafted. Several items are included in Public notice like lottery results, development applications, etc. Public notice provides information for the public which is widespread throughout other types of media also. Public notice is actually a formal announcement that is published in a newspaper legally. It is the right of people to know about the occurrence or any changes in the latest meetings, licensing matters, and requests for proposals of the government. As newspapers are important and trusted forms of media, public notices are often published in newspapers which in turn, automatically have a record of various government actions. It is also important for public notices to be accessible, verifiable, and archivable.
TYPES OF PUBLIC NOTICES
Broadly there are three types of public notices.
- A public notice whose job is to provide information and a chance for the common people to comment on government activities is called citizen participation public notice. Publication of the government budget and notices of important public hearings under the umbrella of citizen participation public notice. It is the duty of a government to be aware of their citizens against whom they are planning to take action so as to provide a chance to the citizens to be heard.
- Business and Commerce public notices are those notices which contain the request of the government for purchases, bids, and other business-related activities. These public notices are important as they ensure that the government is working in accordance with equality and law. Business entities who want to open a business in a particular area are required to provide the public with the business public notice to describe their intention. Property public notice which describes a particular property in order to return unclaimed property to its rightful owners is also an important type of public notice.
- Court notices are also a type of public notice. When someone dies and an attorney is probating his or her will, it is the attorney’s duty to publish a notice informing the public of the appointment of an administrator to whom the estate is being probated. Then, the affected people can assert their claims or queries with respect to the court notice. This is also called an estate notice or a property notice.
IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC NOTICE
- Public Notice makes the public aware of the various government activities, court hearings, public bids, etc.
- They are the most effective method of reaching the public.
- There is an important premise in all local governments that all government-related activities must be publicized so that people can make well-informed decisions. If the government provides public notices on time then it gives the public an opportunity to influence governing bodies by querying about their decisions and also, allows the public to be a participant in the democracy.
- By printing public notices, newspapers end up serving both the public and the government. Public notices have a great responsibility as they inform the public of actions either big or small.
- The importance of public notice is immense in a democracy as it acts as a device of transparency for the public. It creates an official record of all the activities of government which helps the public in understanding the policies and even questioning them. Many kinds of actions are recorded by a public notice be it spending off of taxpayer money or be it the meeting of some government bodies.
- A government or a democracy can never work in the dark, that is they cannot take actions without first informing the public. So how to maintain a healthy relationship between the government and its citizen’s public notices are of immense importance.
