Gopal Sharma
JAMMU, July 30: In contrary to the claims of the Government of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir of providing Domicile certificates to the public online and encouraging people through wider publicity in newspapers and electronic media to adopt this safe mode of applications amidst Coronavirus pandemic, there are no takers of such applications in various Tehsil offices across the region.
A large number of people who have applied for the issuance of Domicile certificate to the respective Tehsil offices even a month ago or more are still waiting for any response. In a few cases, the additional documents were sought by the concerned staff, but despite submitting the same, no clue could be received about the delivery of their certificates for weeks.
Many people alleged that despite clear instructions by the Government through newspapers with regard to the documents to be submitted like PRC, residence proof and date of birth, the concerned officials were demanding additional documents just to adopt delaying tactics and causing harassment to the applicants.
Excelsior office is receiving numerous such grievances of the public every day. The people are generally alleging delay in issuance of certificates through online mode and frequent breakdown in the system and non-response of the system some times for “wife of” column, signatures verification etc.
The reports of corruption in some Tehsil offices and poor monitoring by the senior officers have also been received from various Districts and Sub Divisions in Jammu region. The rush of public is increasing day by day in Tehsil offices and security men are facing hard times to control the same amidst Covid-19, yet the staff is discouraging online mode for their vested interests. Many people who applied online, received messages ‘application submitted successfully,…. verified successfully’ but after that they received no response even after passage of one month while the Government had promised to deliver certificate within 15 days of applying online though public notices.
Surinder Kumar Raina from Vikas Nagar, Jammu said that he had applied online for Domicile certificate on June 24, 2020 to Tehsildar office Jammu North, the Deputy Commissioner Jammu responded only after he submitted a complaint to the Lt Governor’s Grievance Cell on July 27. He said an official there in DC office directed to contact Tehsil office Jammu North at Janipur personally as their site was not properly working. He asked if he had to go personally to the office then what was the need to apply online?
Bharat Bhushan, Suman Devi and Sumit Kumar from Khour town of district Jammu who applied online to the office of Tehsildar Khour on June 28, 2020 are still waiting for any response. Neither any one asked for any additional document to them, nor they received their certificates so far even after the passage of one month and two days.
Auditya Bakshi from Sainik Colony, Jammu stated that he applied 18 days ago to Tehsildar Bahu online for the issuance of the certificate vide UID Number 9609, but no response has been received from the office despite instructions of the Government to issue certificate within 15 days. He said her sister Aditi also applied the same day and needed certificate for University admission but the response is still awaited.
Rohit Kumar Kundal from Samba town said that there is problem in the website. While applying for the certificate of his mother and father, some options were not available with the system. He said when he contacted in the office of Tehsildar Samba personally, one of the staff members said that the website was not properly working and apply with hard copies. Similar complaint was received from one Kirti Bhushan from Kathua and Anil Kumar from Hiranagar. They said Tehsil office staff was asking to apply offline on the plea that online system was not properly working. They alleged corruption and claimed that some middlemen are operating within the complex and managing certificates for the money ranging from Rs 1000 to 1200 per document. Similar complaints are being received from some other districts as well. They said this is the reason why online mode is being discouraged by the staff by giving different pleas.
Satinder Pal Singh from Adarsh Colony, Udhampur and Kamlesh Gupta from Reasi also alleged long delay in issuance of Domicile certificates through online mode. They said when the people are avoiding to go crowded Tehsil offices due to Corona threat, the staff is discouraging on- line mode for the reason best known to them. Mohd Yunis from Thannamandi, Sahil Singh from Nowshera and Majid Khan from Manjakote in Rajouri also alleged long delay in online mode and said that website takes long time for opening.
Deputy Commissioner , Rajouri, Nazir Sheikh said his Tehsildars in Rajouri have issued a large number of Domicile certificates so far. There is no such problem in off-line mode but due to internet problem, the system may be slow and public facing difficulty on this count. He said Tehsildar is front line warrior fighting Corona and performing many other duties. He is over burdened these days. He however, assured that he would collect detail of the online issuance of certificates from respective Tehsildars. But he maintained that breakdown in the system some times, is causing delay in some areas.
Gourav Sharma, Tehsildar Kathua said he has issued nearly 14,000 off line Domicile certificates so far and nearly 30,000 are in the process. Gourav said he, like many of his other his colleagues in Jammu, Udhampur and Rajouri admitted that there is problem is the system. He said for the last three days, there was breakdown in system. ” Many times you will find server down. When you are nearing to clear the file online, the system will crash. This type of problems are being faced by us,” he added.
Tehsildar Mendhar, Dr Vikram said though he has issued over 16,000 certificates so far but through online mode, the number is less. He said in processing application through online system, it takes normally 7-8 minutes. System breaks down several times, causing frequent disruptions. There is need to improve system by the NIC people. Similar were the remarks of several other Tehsildars to whom the Excelsior office contacted. They suggested that to minimize the crowd at their offices amidst Covid -19, the service providers, a Mumbai based IT company, should be asked by the Administration to improve system.
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