Now, get your documents e-attested

At the click of the mouse

Making paperless offices a reality, the state government has brought in several e-initiatives to simplify the administrative process.

Going a step ahead on its wide range of IT initiatives, the state government has now introduced digital attestation (e-attestation) of documents by the officials replacing the manual system of attesting documents.

Facilitating the process, the e-administration wing of Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) has hosted a dedicated website.

Sources in DPAR revealed to DH that a major impediment in achieving the complete digitisation was submitting documents.

“Citizens have to submit either an original document or a true certified copy of the original for availing various government services. This was not only time consuming but had to pass through several hierarchies delaying the speedy closure of cases. Hence, it was felt that if the certificates are attested digitally for once, the citizen can make use of it multiple times in soft format,” the officer explained.

The official said that at present, citizens must seek the help of gazetted officers to get their documents attested and every time they have to submit an application and supporting documents.

“While the citizen has to repeat the process every time, the old procedure also adds to the burden on the attesting officer as he has to verify the identity of the citizen every time the applicant comes for attestation. But with the new procedure, these procedures will become obsolete,” the officer clarified.

According to the government order, a copy of which is with DH, a portal - http://eattest.karnataka.gov.in - has been created using the strengths of Aadhaar based e-sign and blockchain features to create a trustable and secure platform for managing e-attestations.

Under the new process, only the officers belonging to the central services (IAS, IPS and IFS), Group-A and select Group-B officials have been provided with rights to log-in to the portal and carry out e-attestation of documents.

“Wherever the attested document is desired by any of the departments of the state government, documents e-attested through the portal shall be considered as a valid form of submission of documents. However, the departments can continue accepting the attested documents in hardcopy until further orders,” the DPAR order stated.