Govt to replace affidavits with self-attested docs; order soon

The Centre will replace the requirement of furnishing affidavits with self-attested declarations in a major chunk of government-related work and an official order in this regard will be issued soon, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said today.

"This thought (to promote self-attestation) was in the process. But it has not been implemented in the full way. No notification has been issued on it. It will be done soon," he told a press conference on works done by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions during the 100 days of the NDA government.

He said different departments have different sensitivities. However, self-attestation would be pushed to the maximum extent possible, the minister said.

"There may be a problem when you go to some place and an officer may say he will not receive a self-attested document. He will say there is no such order. So, the order will be issued by us. But, till then all stakeholders including the state governments need to work together for it," said Singh.

He said self-certification of documents is going to be a great boon for the unemployed youth. "In certain security- related matters, gazetted certification might have to be retained, after a dispassionate look," he said.

"For the first time in independent India, the practice of documents being attested by gazetted officers will be done away with. We have broadly focused on making governance good and simple in the last three months," Singh said, referring to the work done by the ministry.

He said the promotion of self-certification in place of notarised affidavits will be a significant step in making life easier for the common man and building trust. "As India goes into the 21st century, everyone would recognise the stakes involved in false attestation," he said.

The minister also said the government is trying to involve pensioners in various pension works.

"We would involve some of the retired people in various committees of administrative reforms," Singh said, adding that the number of pensioners is more than the number of central government employees.

There are about 31 lakh central government employees and 50 lakh pensioners.

"Pre-retirement counselling coupled with post-retirement engagement is required for pensioners. Today there is a huge need for pre-retirement counselling," he said.

Singh said his ministry had shown speed in facilitating the setting up of the state administrative machinery in newly created Telengana. "Within five days of assumption of office, orders were issued to around 10,000 state government employees for serving in Telengana," he said.

He said the ministry was moving towards reducing the processing time and fast tracking decisions, including in service and cadre allocation.