HYDERABAD: Ahead of the commencement of new academic season, requests for various certificates, including income certificate, caste certificate and residential certificate, are piling up in all 16 mandal revenue offices in Hyderabad district. Only a handful of certificates have been issued this month owing to staff crunch. After scoring good marks in Intermediate exam, 17-year-old C Kavya Sree has been awaiting a call for Eamcet counselling to get into an engineering college. She was seen frantically searching for her file at Shaikpet tehsildar’s office to get it cleared by the officer directly.
Speaking to Express, Kavya said that she had been running from pillar to post awaiting her revenue certificates for long but there has been no response. Ahead of the beginning of the new academic year, it is not surprising that there is a high demand for such certificates. Students are required to submit these certificates in order to claim various government scholarships, admissions, reservations, etc. What has caused the delay in issuance of such certificates is the staff crunch in the revenue offices. The data collected from the Hyderabad district collectorate shows that nearly 17,293 applications were submitted in April and May for issuing caste, residence and income certificates.
The authorities have approved only 6,943 applications and rejected 704 for various reasons. As many as 9,593 applications are pending with the 16 mandal revenue offices in Hyderabad district.
Even after the specified time period, authorities have been unable to complete the procedure or approve the certificates. According to Kavya Sree, though there is an online facility, middlemen influence the officials to get their work done faster.
She says that even though the procedure has been made online to ensure transparency, some middlemen register applications at Mee Seva centres directly and use their clout with officials at mandal offices to get the applications cleared in a day or two. “The situation on the ground is chaotic. While people wait for weeks, some pay amounts ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 and manage to get certificates in a day or two,” she said. Else, one has to go through the tedious process of identifying one’s certificates at the tehsildar’s office and get them signed by the official concerned.
Another applicant, D Tirupati, an MBA aspirant, said that even 15 days after submitting application he was yet to receive the certificates. “When I went to the Khairatabad tehsildar’s office, they said they could not locate the certificate sent from the Mee Seva centre,” he added.Speaking to Express, district revenue officer N Radhika Ramani said that once the tehsildar approved an application, the applicant would receive an SMS alert to collect the relevant certificate from Mee Seva centre.
“We have issued orders to all revenue officials to clear all pending applications. If any employee keeps applications pending, we will take serious action against such officials. According to service-level agreement, the tehsildar concerned has to clear the file and issue the certificate within 15 days from date of application,” she said.