If staying in the state of Uttar Pradesh, you need not run around the notaries to procure an affidavit on a stamp paper to avail benefits of a government scheme, or to get the photocopies of your academic certificates attested by a gazetted government officer, or even to qualify for admission in academic institutions.
After Punjab and Maharashtra, UP has also done away with the requirement of affidavits, and instead introduced a system of self-attested certificates.
The move comes amid reports that the Centre may discontinue with the attestation of documents by gazetted officers.
“Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has abolished the system of taking affidavits for all government schemes. The decision has been taken to provide relief to the people and simplify government processes. It would be implemented with immediate effect,” a government spokesman said. Instead of affidavits, self-attested certificates would do, he added.
Only days ago, justifying the scrapping of the system of affidavits in Maharashtra, Principal Secretary in the state Department of Information Technology, Rajesh Aggarwal, had told eGov magazine, “We very often need affidavits for court or government-related work. But we said affidavits will not be required. Even 65 years after our Independence, we don’t trust our own citizen and they are asked to get the letters signed by a gazetted officer or notary. So, we consulted Law Department, and now we have added just one sheet in all the application forms, Swa Ghoshna Patra (self declaration sheet), for replacing the affidavit.”
Now savings from an affidavit come to about Rs 1,000 crore per annum to citizens, apart from simplification of the process, Aggarwal had said.
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