Process for getting Domicile certificate

Process for getting Domicile certificate in Pune

Disclaimer - I am only sharing my experiences. I am not competent to advise on this topic.

(I would prefer to treat this blog as unfinished till we get the domicile certificate!)

Last week Akshay’s school informed us that a domicile certificate is mandatory for getting admission to the 11^th class. They gave a yellow blank document that was the application form. Here is the process:

1. Get the yellow form from school or from the Citizen’s Service Cell at godowns behind the Shivajinagar Court’s.
2. Go to the school and get a token in your child name. (Why can’t this token be distributed in the school alongwith the form?) This token is in the form of a paper with the child’s name and the school seal. Some schools directly put their seal on the yellow form. But I would prefer the token system. That way even if you make a mistake while filling the form you can always change the form and fill it up yet again. You cannot afford to make a mistake on the stamped form.
3. The form is a typical government document that successfully confuses you more as it tries to simplify. This probably gives employment to people whom we refer to as Agents. Many persons in the queue had filled in the form improperly and had to leave the line and make a fresh new application. The staff too was tired of repeating the same instructions to everyone. It would do a lot of good to citizens as well as the staff of that office if they displayed a sample form on a poster in the office. The sample form can also be made available on their website. Those having access to internet can use this method to save time. BTW there aren’t any desks or writing tables that can be used as a support while filling the form. There isn’t any washroom nor was drinking water available.
4. After collecting the token from the school go to the Citizen’s Service Cell at the godowns behind the Shivajinagar Court. This service center is open from 10 am to 5 pm. Paste a Rs.Ten court fee stamp on it. The court fee stamp can be bought from anywhere.(We reached the godown at 9.15 am and there were many people ahead of us in the line. The shutters opened at 10.10 am and everyone just rushed inside! Before I could react and reach the counters I noticed that I had been pushed to the back of the queue. Why do our citizens behave in such an uncivilised manner?) It was amusing to see that the court fee stamp was not sold officially in that office. There was a Municipal corporation employee selling these stamps at a 100% premium!
5. Stand in the queue and present the filled form, school token and a photo Id of the person/parent who has filled in the form to the officer for creating an affidavit.
6. The fee is Rs.20 in cash. (Always carry the exact amount with you to any government office. It saves a lot of time). I did not get any receipt for this Rs.20 inspite of asking for it. The gentleman completely ignored my question and started attending the next person in queue! There isn’t any senior officer there for taking your complaint. All are clerks.
7. The person at the counter will himself shoot your photo, ask a few questions and fire two prints (of the affidavit).
8. The printer is at another counter. Stand in the queue and patiently wait till you get two prints of your affidavit. Please check the print thoroughly.
9. Paste a Rs.5 court fee stamp on one of the affidavit prints and sign both the prints of the affidavit. This signature is a declaration that you have read the affidavit and that everything is in order. You also declare that you would be committing an offence under the relevant sections of law if you have intentionally given wrong information.
10. Now stand in yet another queue to get the all important stamp from the Special Executive magistrate. There were four counters for creating the affidavit and one counter for getting it stamped. So the entire rush of all the four counters converged and we had a pretty long queue. Present your photo id and get the seal and signature. (it is to the credit of the staff that inspite of all this, I left the Municipal office at 11.45 am. Pretty fast it was. I had expected atleast till 2 pm. I was happy.)
11. Take the affidavit and the yellow application form to the school. Stand in yet another queue and hand it over to the concerned school authority. You also need to submit attested copies of Municipal property tax bills or MSEB bills for the past 10 years!!

Why can’t this process be simplified? Back of envelope calculations would suggest that atleast 70% students would be in the same school from 1^st Std. to 10^th Std. Why can’t the process of issuing Domicile certificates be made such that the school gets authorized to issue these certificates for such students? There would be some students who have changed schools within Maharashtra while studying from 1^st to 10^th Std. The schools can decide based on the previous school’s leaving certificate. This will surely take a huge load off the governmental institutions as well as save citizens time and effort. (and money too).

Another strange observation was that how can property tax bills and MSEB bills for the past 10 years ensure that a person had been residing there for ten years? One can surely be having property in Maharashtra and be staying in some other state. Probably service certificate or similar proof would be the best proof to decide a person’s domicile.

The British had put in place complex processes to discourage us Indians from interacting with he government. Why can’t our leaders have a relook at such processes and make the administration more citizen friendly? Or is it the same reason as the Britishers that our elected representatives are continuing with the same processes?