Sivasagar administration cracks down on fake birth and death certificate racket

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

SIVASAGAR, July 16: Do you need a birth certificate for your child urgently at this rush hour to enlist your baby’s me in NRC? Don’t approach any agents, lest you be handed a fake certificate. Sivasagar District Administration has seized a fake permission which was issued for birth registration in the Sibsagar Municipal Board.

Recently officials of the Deputy Commissioner’s office, Sivasagar found a fake permission issued for birth certificate by using office seal and Sub-Divisiol Magistrate, Sivasagar (Sadar) seal with fake sigture of the latter. Interestingly, there is no Sub-Divisiol Magistrate, (Sadar) at present in Sivasagar.

It came to the notice of the officials when an applicant approached the DC’s office to correct the spelling of the me written on the permission copy. Verification revealed that a racket was operating in the corridors of the office campus of the Deputy Commissioner to catch hold of people who need to get a birth certificate urgently to submit along with NRC forms.

The Sibsagar Municipal Board (SMB) issues a birth certificate within a year of the baby’s birth. But in case someone applies for a certificate after a year of the child’s birth or needs to make a correction of errors occurred while recording the me of the baby or its parents, the applicant has to first obtain on order from a Sub-Divisiol Magistrate or Additiol District Magistrate. Then with the order in hand, the applicant can approach the registration department of the civic body for the birth certificate.  

Suspecting that a large number of certificates could have been issued on the basis of such fake permissions, the Sivasagar District Administration has instructed the SMB to keep track of the orders of the magistrates relating to issuance of birth/death certificates and also appealed to the people of Sivasagar to keep away from such agents and inform immediately if they came across any such person.

Meanwhile, there have also been allegations that a lot of cash is changing hands in the birth and death registration department of the SMB, for prompt issue of the certificate.