News
Bureaucrats labour over birth certificate copy validity
View(s):- Registrar General’s directive debunking six-month rule go unheeded at Immigration Dept and Registration of Persons Dept
By Kasun Warakapitiya
Although the Registrar General’s Department issues clear directives to state offices stating that birth, marriage and death registrations certified and issued by them do not become invalid after six months, some public authorities insist on a certificate that had been taken within the past six months.
The former head of the Registrar General’s Department, P S P Abeywardena, in June 2022, informed the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration, the Commissioner General of Registration of Persons, and the Ministry of Education that certified copies of birth, marriage, and death issued by the department should be accepted without subjecting the validity period of a certificate to any time limit.
Immigration Department insists individuals produce certified copy obtained in past 6 months Pix by Priyanka Samaraweera
A separate circular was issued on September 9, 2022, to divisional secretaries.
The Registrar went on to draft a notice and sent it to the relevant institutions as well as the divisional secretariats to be displayed on notice boards.
The notice said, “Copies of the birth, marriage and death registers, certified and issued to you by the Registrar General Department, shall not become invalid after a period of six months and shall be valid for any period of time. Since the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Immigration and Emigration, and the Registration of Persons Department have been officially informed, I would like to inform you by this that if you have a clear, certified copy issued by the Registrar General’s Department, there is no need to obtain a new copy again.
Sudharsha Mirenda
“Only if any amendments have been done to a birth, marriage or death register, then a new revised copy shall be submitted.’’
Despite these circulars and notices being issued and asked to be displayed at relevant state institutes, divisional secretariats remain jam-packed daily as queues are formed by those seeking birth certificates issued by the Registrar General Department.
Thousands line up at divisional secretary offices daily to get these certificates, mainly used to secure passports or national identity cards.
The Sunday Times learned that despite the circulars, officials at both the Department of Immigration and Emigration and the Department of Registration of Persons still insist that those who even had original birth certificates issued by the Registrar General’s Department must produce a certified copy obtained within the past six months.
Those waiting in queues to get passports said that they were told to bring birth certificates valid for six months from divisional secretariats.
At the Wattala Divisional Secretariat, H S Perera, a resident of Wattala, Hekitta, said he spent six hours in a queue to get a copy of the birth certificate, which was stamped and signed after downloading a copy available on the database.
He said that tokens were given to every 100 persons who waited in line to meet the officials at the Divisional Secretariat, and when the first 100 tokens were over, about 10 more tokens were issued.
Sudharsha Mirenda, 43, a resident of Meerigama, said a friend who had earlier got her passport told her to get a birth certificate certified by the divisional secretary. She added she was also told it was valid only for six months.
W K Gunathilake
She said that she had been forced to spend half a day in a queue to get the copy of the birth certificate.
Ms Mirenda said this is counterproductive and forces people to waste time at other state offices when the department’s system itself has access to the birth certificate and the authenticity of the original birth certificate can be verified.
The Sunday Times learns the Registrar General Department had given access to the electronic system, which comprises data of persons from 1960 to 2021, to the Foreign Ministry and the Departments of Registration of Persons and Immigration.
People say departments such as Immigration and Registration of Persons use archaic methods.
Chaminda Pathmakumara, 45, a resident of Warakapola, said that though Immigration can access people’s data, they ask people to bring a certificate valid for six months from the divisional secretariat.
He said he, too, went through the processes and got a birth certificate after spending half a day and Rs 120.
“If the government wants to charge the people for checking the certificate, that is acceptable, but why do they get people to spend hours in queues to collect a certified copy? They can even get the Registrar General’s Department to assist,’’ he said.
People from the provinces also said reaching divisional secretariats is an ordeal because the offices are far from their homes. And then there are long queues.
One of the issues faced by the divisional secretariats at times is that their IT systems are slow.
A similar scenario is faced by some who get their identities fixed, as the Registrations of Persons Department also requests a birth certificate stamped as a copy taken within six months to one year.
W K Gunathilake, 72, a father of a differently abled son, told the Sunday Times that he also got a six-month-valid birth certificate from the divisional secretariat after lining up in a long queue so he would be able to produce that to obtain a national identity card.
Chaminda Pathmakumara
The Government Information Centre said an applicant for a new passport should submit a certified copy of the birth certificate issued by the Divisional Secretariat which has a purple stamp stating it is valid for six months. It was also suggested that if the birth certificate was obtained within six months, there would not be any complications.
When the Sunday Times contacted the Acting Commissioner General of Registration of Persons, M S P Suriyapperuma, she was at a meeting but did not respond later as promised.
However, when the Sunday Times sought clarification from the Department of Immigration and Emigration, spokesman Mahesh Karunadasa claimed that the original birth certificate issued by the Registrar General is accepted.
However, he said the officials of the department ask for an original birth certificate “without abnormalities”.
“The certificate should not have dirt marks, torn areas, folded seams and pen marks obscuring the vital details.’’
He said the department is aware of the circular by the Registrar General and follows the instructions.
However, this was contrary to information provided to those calling over to get passports. Also, the notice issued by the Registrar General’s Department is not on display.
The notice was reportedly displayed but ‘removed’ due to renovations.
Those who have amendments (legal changes), such as names and other details, in their birth certificates are asked to bring a copy of the original, which includes the relevant amendment.
Mr Karunadasa said that the Immigration Department is partly digitalised, yet it would be better if all relevant departments were fully digitalised and interconnected.
However, Immigration would not comment on a query on the insistence of a valid time frame for original birth certificates, despite the fact that they can identify people by accessing the digital system of the Registrar’s Department, which has original birth certificate details of persons born after 1960 and up to 2021.
Assistant Registrar General A.M.R.S.K. Amarakoon explained that birth, marriage and death certificates issued by the department do not expire.
Circulars have been issued asking the Ministry of Education and the Department of Immigration and Emigration to accept the certificates without restricting them to any valid time period.
He explained that only if amendments have been made to birth, marriage or death, a new revised copy is needed.
Mr Amarakoon said authorities should inform those who apply for a passport or identity card that they only need an original birth certificate issued by the Registrar General without abnormalities, and there is no validity period considered for certificates issued by them.
| Outdated officialdom complicates teacher credentials Although the National Institute of Language Education and Training (NILET) issues certificates endorsing teachers who completed the 150-hour language proficiency course, both provincial education departments and zonal education offices ask for letters confirming that the teachers had followed the course. The Director General of the Institute (NILET), Chaminda Manawadu, told the Sunday Times that provincial education departments and the zonal education directors have been told that teachers need not recertify their language proficiency tests. Zonal education directors, as well as the provincial education departments, could clarify whether the teachers had followed the proficiency course and obtain more details, as they had included the information about the teachers who obtained certificates from the institute, he said. “We held programmes for the southern province zonal education officers to educate them that there is no requirement to instruct teachers to get confirmation letters certified by principals or visit our head office at Makumbura to get confirmation letters,” he said. Letters would be issued to zonal education directors and provincial education authorities. Teachers are angry about the process, as they had been forced to submit documents after making true copies. They pointed out that even if they receive an education certificate from a government institute, they request copies certified as true copies and letters confirming that they achieved the respective education qualification. A teacher at a prominent southern state school said anonymously that she completed a 150-hour Tamil course at the National Institute of Language Education and Training (NILET) and got a certificate. But she was asked to get a letter from the southern provincial education department confirming that she is proficient in the Tamil language so she would be eligible for a promotion. When she submitted two photocopies of the certificate issued by the NILET (also a government institute) to the zonal education office, one copy would be sent to the personal file and the provincial education department. Two letters had to be written by her which read that she completed the programme, despite having a certificate. The letters are needed to make true copies by getting the school principal’s signature and stamp. However, NILET said the certificate it issued confirms her language proficiency. It is available online and does not require any letter to certify the language proficiency. Yet as the zonal education office insisted on confirming the proficiency of her language, she was forced to go to her school principal to get the letters signed and stamped as true copies. This was only one incident where a teacher had faced difficulties due to the archaic practices of zonal and provincial educational offices. Teacher unions said that this issue is common in education zonal offices, where they give priority to maintaining hard copies and files instead of digital systems, which provide more accuracy and easy access. The General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU), Joseph Stalin, said many zonal education offices have to update their data collection and verifying methods. Mr Stalin said that if the teachers have achieved the educational qualification and if it’s available in the electronic system of the relevant state institute, they would be able to verify that and include that qualification in the teacher service record as soon as possible. | |
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