III.E Procedure for Error corrections or cancellation of issued certificates

minor corrections required in already issued Birth Certificates, such as, change in address or spelling mistake in father/ mother name, the corrections are done by the Registrar on submitting address proof, ID proof etc. However, no change is accepted in Date of Birth or Child Name. In case of major corrections, an affidavit and other documents should be presented to the Registrar and the changes can be made free of cost. Documents to furnish for corrections in Birth Certificates are,

- Declaration by either father or mother and corrected by TWO GAZETTED OFFICIALS (officials name and seal) - Notary Affidavit in stamp paper of Rs.10 (non-judicial stamp paper) - The Original Birth / Death Certificates already taken are to be returned - Documentary Evidences like Educational Certificates, Election ID Card, Ration Card, driving

Licenses, Marriage Certificates, LIC policy (if any) or caste certificate - In case of hospital birth, Consent Letter from the concerned Hospital regarding the correction. In case of birth anywhere else, consent from a medical officer/ health officer in district medical council/ CHC etc. In case of rural, medical officer in PHC - Any other certificate of the child

However, this interpretation is subjective; the Registrar can refuse to make changes without citing any specific reasons and there are instances of bribing to get the data corrected in certificates. In case of corrections required, the following documents are to be submitted by the applicants.

For any change/ correction in caste/domicile certificates, a form for correction will be available at Tehsildar’s office in case of offline applications. However, in case of online applications, there should not be mistakes in issued certificates as applicants fill up the online forms by themselves. Despite, for minor corrections, the authority who has issued the certificate can do the rectification after receiving of valid documents from the applicants. No separate forms available for rejected applications and no physical verifications required.

Issued certificates might get cancelled by the issuing

“People think only they are getting authorities in case of disputes noticed in documental harassed and no one see the proof during field verifications. There are incidences harassment issuing officials face of furnishing fake documentations to get benefit because of the fake documents from state governments. For example, in order to get furnished by few people to get the categorical concession in entrance examinations or in certificates.”- Revenue Department government jobs in a particular state, people from Official, Kolkata other states seek caste/domicile/residence certificate furnishing fake address proof or community certificate of blood relatives. These anomalies are noticed during field inquiry by concerned issuing authorities. Similar disputes are also noticed by government employment authorities during background check of the candidates about caste certificates being issued to those job aspirants. As a result, many such applications got rejected.