As SIR begins on June 30, Karnataka govt. issues guidelines for permanent residence certificates

Ahead of the house-to-house enumeration for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to be taken up by the Election Commission of India in Karnataka on Tuesday, the State government on Monday notified guidelines to provide permanent residence certificates and domicile certificates. These are some of the documents prescribed under SIR.

The guidelines have been issued to bring uniform, transparent and legally strong system, and the certificates will be issued by the tahsildar or the deputy tahsildar appointed by the Deputy Commissioners, said the order.

Assistant Commissioners will be the appellate authority and Deputy Commissioner will be the revisional authority. Any false information or creation of fake documents to obtain PRC will invite criminal action, the order added.

The order also clarified that applicants cannot be termed ineligible based on the guidelines, which is not comprehensive. The decision is to be taken based on available documents, and in cases where documents are incomplete, decision can be made based on local inquiry and other dependable documents. Any approval of PRC or rejection should be justified and should have speaking order.

The issuing authority has been given the right to undertake local checks before issuing the PRC. The individual affected by the issuing authority can go on an appeal within 30 days, and go for revisional authority within 60 days. The government has clarified that the PRC is only for administrative purposes and not for claims of government benefits.

The issuing authority has been vested with the right to cancel the certificate based on complaints or suo motu action after providing opportunity to the applicant.

Help desks

Meanwhile, in another order, the State government on Monday set the ball in motion to set up help desks and facilitation centres with necessary digital infrastructure at every gram panchayat and ward offices to provide permanent residence certificates.

The applications will be processed by Atal Janasnehi Centres, BengaluruOne, KarnatakaOne and GramaOne, among others. Eligible persons may also submit online applications through Seva Sindhu Portal or Atal Jana Snehi Kendra or any other notified portal.

The order asked the Chief Executive Officers of all zilla panchayats and Commissioners of corporations/executive officers of town panchayats, municipal councils to ensure setting up help desk at all gram panchayats and wards respectively.

Data available, including in Kutumba, educational databases, residence data base, electoral rolls and other databases may be notified for the limited purpose of facilitating verification, reducing requirement for submission of documents and enabling pre filled online application. The eligibility has to be confirmed by the issuing authority before certificates are issued.