NEW DELHI: Citizens will no longer be required to get documents attested by a gazetted officer or file affidavits for government-related work, with the Centre deciding to settle for self-attested documents such as birth certificate and marksheets.

The Centre has also written to the state governments to do away with the requirement of attaching affidavits issued by notary or documents attested by gazetted officers with applications made to government departments.

This will save the common man the trouble of finding a gazetted officer or from spending money to get affidavits from a notary. Applicants to the government now only need to attach self-certified copies of their marksheet, birth certificate, etc. Self-attestation norms, however, will require them to produce the original documents at the final stage.

The switch to self-attestation in government-related work is based on the recommendation of second Administrative Reforms Commission in its 12th report titled ‘Citizen centric administration – The heart of governance’. It had recommended simplifying procedures for self-certification provision.

Getting an affidavit is a very cumbersome process. People have to pay Rs 100-500 for getting affidavits from a notary. Most of the gazetted officials also do not give their nod for affidavits in the absence of sufficient documents.

“The situation is worse in villages and in remote areas. If state governments promote self-attestation it will be a boon for people,” an official of the department of administrative reforms and public grievances was quoted by the PTI as saying.

An office memorandum sent by the department to the state chief secretaries said the method of self-attestation is “citizen friendly and obtaining either an attested copy or affidavit not only costs money but also involves wastage of time of the citizens and the government officials”.

“It is requested to kindly review the existing requirements of attested copy or affidavit in various application forms in a phased manner and wherever possible make provision for self-certification of documents, after obtaining the approval from competent authority”.