Mayor Firhad Hakim said on Wednesday he had asked the state health secretary to ease norms for providing death certificates to the families of people who died before 1995 or allow Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to give the certificates.
Many people have complained to the KMC that they are facing problems obtaining death certificates for someone who died before 1995.
Birth and death certificates are now issued online. The applications for them have to be filed online, too.
In the new system, the applicants are being asked to provide Aadhaar card or voter card as identity proof.
“Voter cards were introduced in 1995. Aadhaar cards were rolled out much later. How would someone who died before 1995 have those?” Hakim said.
“I have asked the secretary of the state health department to ease the norms so that these documents are not asked for. Else, they should allow the KMC to issue the certificates.”
A KMC official said that under the old system, the civic body would issue offline death certificates of people who had died before 1995. The applicants used to submit applications in-person and the voter card or Aadhar card was not required.
“People are not able to do mutation and transfer property ownership from deceased persons. The evidence that a person has died has to be provided for the mutation. The certificates may also be required for other purposes,” Hakim said.
Earlier, the KMC used to check records after receiving applications and issue death certificates, said Hakim.