HYDERABAD: The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has quietly cancelled over 27,000 birth and 4,000 death certificates that were processed last year through Mee Seva centres after it came to light that they were issued without proper investigation.
GHMC circles like Mehidipatnam, Charminar, Falaknuma, Secunderabad, Begumpet, Malakpet, Musheerabad, Goshamahal etc., topped the list where this certificate were issued.
Birth certificates are crucial documents which are necessary for obtaining Aadhaar card, passport, PAN card, ration card and other certificates, while death certificates are crucial for claiming insurance, property transfer, etc., according to officials.
Officials blame Mee Seva centres for mess
GHMC officials have acknowledged the issuance of the certificates without due diligence and blamed Mee Seva centres for the mess. This surreptitious cancellation came to light only when some of those who obtained such certificates started besieging the local municipal offices when their documents were not accepted in government departments. It was only when the officials threatened to file criminal cases, they ran away, they said.
Passport offices and insurance agencies send birth and death certificates to the GHMC office for authentication. All the certificates failed the test as they were not enrolled in the official registry as per the civil registration system prescribed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Between March and December 2022, these fraudulent issuance of certificates were done through Mee Seva centres where the mandatory revenue divisional officer (RDO) proceedings were not taken into account. Many of these were issued without any documentary proof.
The Mehidipatnam circle topped with highest number of illegal birth certificates (5,877) and death certificates (240) followed by Charminar circle birth (3,949) and death (249), Falaknuma circle birth (1,839) and death (220), Begumpet circle birth (2,821) and death (409) and Secunderabad circle birth (1,758) and death (204).Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari is said to have expressed unhappiness over the issue during a review with GHMC officials and told them to take appropriate action.
If the birth or death details of the persons are not available in GHMC records then the applicant can obtain non Availability Certificate (NAC) from a Mee Seva centre by submitting required photo copies like ration card or any other proof of residence, school bona fide certificate or other supporting documents, if any, with attestation for issuance of birth certificate.
Many applicants approach brokers to obtain the certificates by just providing the name, father’s name, mother’s name and the date of birth of the child and pay Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 as fee.The application submitted at a Mee Seva centre has to be sent to the RDO concerned for verification. However without any proceedings from the RDO, a large number of certificates were issued.
As per the government of India norms, authorities of hospitals where a child is born collect the identity proofs of parents and submit the child’s birth details through online which are entered in the official records of GHMC. Parents can later apply for child birth certificates through a Mee Seva centre. After due verification, the circle officials concerned issue the documents.
If a person’s details are unavailable in GHMC records, then the applicant has to obtain an NAC which is submitted at a Mee Seva centre for registration of birth certificate.But an “auto approval system” introduced in August 2022 has opened the flood gates to fake certificates and entry of brokers.
With Mee Seva centres being given the responsibility of issuing the certificates, the entire health assistant outsourcing staff maintaining the registry was removed. “The entire system collapsed just because of a few black sheep in the administration,” said an official.