Govt officers will now issue birth, death certificates instead of public representatives in Bengal

In a major development to undo the problem of fake cartificates in the state, the Suvendu Adhikari government on Friday replaced public representatives with government officers as the registration authority of birth and death certificates.

The notification mentioned that the pradhans of Gram Panchayats would no longer function as sub-registrar of births and deaths in rural areas; the district magistrates would assign this task to officers who are in the rank of secretaries.

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The Block Medical Officer (Health), the Superintendent of rural hospitals, district level hospitals and sub divisional hospitals, and Medical Superintendent cum Vice-Principal of medical colleges and hospitals, would be authorised as the Registrar to issue birth and death certificates, the notification mentioned.

The Additional District Magistrates, Sub Divisional officers and Block Development Officers, the Joint Municipal commissioner of the
Kolkata Municipal Corporation would act as Additional District Registrars, it added.

In case of civic bodies, government officers have been tasked with the responsibility of issuing certificates instead of chairpersons or administrators or executive officers.

For areas under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the Municipal Commissioner would be acting as the district Registrar, who would in turn appoint government officers as registrars, the notification said.