Students no more need attestation of documents: UGC to varsities

New Delhi, Sept 30: Students applying for courses in universities will no longer require attestation of their documents as self-certification will be enough, a development that will come as a huge relief to them.

Following up on the decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the UGC has sent a communication to Vice Chancellors of universities across the country asking them to initiate "urgent steps" for implementing the measures. It gave them a week's time to comply with the directions.

In its communication to vice chancellors of universities across the country, it has requested them for initiating "urgent steps" for implementing the measures, giving them a week's time to comply with the directions.

"It is requested that the process of abolition of affidavits and adoption of self-certification may be complied with at the earliest and compliance report be sent to UGC with a week of the issue of the letter," the Commission said in its communication on September 26.

The move would come as a boon for students sitting for entrance tests or seeking admissions. Getting attested from gazetted officers certificates such as mark sheets, birth certificates, domicile certificates often involve a lot of hassles. The measure posed more difficulty for students in rural areas scouting for a gazetted officer; officials said. [UGC asks 34 blacklisted deemed universities to start functioning]

Accepting self-attestation is in line with the recommendation of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission for adoption of self-certification provision for simplifying procedures. Under this method, original documents are required to be produced at the final stage of admission.

According to the commission, self-certification is citizen friendly and obtaining either an attested copy or affidavit not only costs money to the poor citizen but also involves wastage of time of citizens and government officials. Several universities have already started accepting self-attested documents, and the communication is intended to set a time-line for the rest to follow it, said HRD Ministry officials.

PTI