Death Certificate is a legal document that certifies about a person that he is dead on a certain date due to a certain cause. It contains all the details related to the death of the person such as the time and date of the death, cause of his or her demise.
In this article, we will be talking about Death Certificate issued in the state of Tamilnadu and all the procedure associated with it.
In India, under Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, it is compulsory in every state to register every births and every deaths to the concerned authority. Mainly the concerned authority is the local authority who is charged with the responsibility of registering every deaths in this case. Registering every deaths has other requirements also. They are discussed further in the article.
Requirements of Registering death: –
- When a person dies, it’s necessary to register it with the local authority to get a death certificate.
- Death certificate legally certifies that the person is date at a certain date on a certain time, thereby proving the fact that the concerned person is dead.
- The death of the person relieves him or her from any social, legal or official commitments. That means he no longer is responsible for any debt(in certain cases), any action, any omission, any commission, etc.
- In case of inheritance, insurance claim and other benefits, that may arise, the document of death certificate is very much necessary to avail those benefits or claims and the certificate is issued only if one registers the death of the person with the concerned local authority.
One thing to note here is that Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, obliges the concerned person to register the death of another person within 21 days to get the death certificate issued for free of charge. Delay will incur fees to issue the certificate.
In Tamilnadu, the same rule applies. However, in rural areas of Tamilnadu, a death can be reported within 2 years with the Taluk office and subsequently with Sub-Registrar office without incurring any penalty or fee.
Before proceeding to know the procedure of application, you must know the concerned officials to whom registration is reported. It varies according to the nature of area under local governments. They are such –
- In Municipality, the local government is in the form of Municipal Corporations, there they handle the job of registering every deaths in their areas.
- In Town areas, the local government is in the form of Town Panchayats and it’s they who register all the deaths of the region.
- Likewise in villages, it’s the Village Panchayats who has the responsibility of issuing the certificate if someone in their areas dies. The responsible authority is Revenue Department and Village Administrative Officers.
Who is responsible to report the deaths to the local authorities?
- It depends on the place where the person does. If the person dies in his own home, then, head of the family has to report it to the local authority.
- If the same has happened in hospitals, nursing homes or any other medical institutions then, hospital management is responsible for reporting the same directly to the local authority and get the certificate issued and hand it over to the nearest family member.
- In case the death of the person has occurred in an accident then his body must be taken to the nearby hospital or other medical institutions for post-mortem, where again it will be hospital management’s responsibility to report it to the local authorities.
Application Procedure for Death Certificate Tamilnadu: –
- First, the applicant or responsible person should visit the local authorities to report the death person.
- There he can get an application form for the certificate from the registrar of the office.
- A sample of application form is below –
- Fill in all the details asked in the application form. Those details are –
- Name of the deceased and age
- Date of Death
- Place of death ( Herein, you will have to mention the address where the person has died like at home or hospital or nursing home, a column for same has been provided there. See the photo above for reference).
- Residential address of the person at the time of his death.
- At the end, mention the date of applying.
- There is also an acknowledgement form attached in the application form in which person who is applying has to mention his relationship with the deceased and reason of applying for death certificate.
- The local authority or registrar of that office has to keep a record of all these information.
- The applicant also needs to submit the receipt of the crematorium or burial ground where the deceased was cremated or buried, as the case may be.
- After verification of all these information, the registrar at the local authority will issue the applicant a death certificate.
Necessary documents required: –
- Birth Certificate of the deceased person.
- An identity card of the deceased person such as ration card, aadhar card, voter is card, etc.
- An affidavit stating the time and date of the death of the deceased.
Fee Applicable: –
- If the death has been reported within 21 days of the death of the deceased in accordance with law, then no fee is charged for the issuance of death certificate in Tamilnadu.
- However, if the date of the death of the deceased is unknown or unspecified then, a few of Rs 25 for each copy is charged from the applicant.
- In case of delay in registration of death with the local authorities, a different application form is filled and a fee of Rs 25 for each copy is charged when the delay is not more than one year.
- In case the delay is more than one year then, a few of Rs 50 for each copy is chargeable.
- As per the rules, a stamp costing Rs 2 should be pasted in the application form for death certificate and it applies for all kind of application form.
This is all you need to know about issuing a death certificate Tamilnadu.
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