Port Blair, Mar 30: Consequent on completion of seven years, requests are being received from the relatives/legal heirs of the missing persons in the Tsunami which struck these islands on 26-12- 2004, for issue of death certificates in favour of the missing persons. In this connection, keeping in view of the provisions contained in the Registration of Births & Deaths Act, 1969 and the clarifications as provided by the Govt. of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi and also in the light of the fact that certain individuals are having to impersonate themselves as the legal heir of the missing persons with ulterior motives, the following guidelines/procedures are issued for the convenience of general public and for the guidance of the Civil Registration functionaries across the islands.
a) Death Certificate in favour of the missing persons can be claimed by the Legal heirs only. Those who are claiming the Death Certificates are therefore required to produce necessary evidence to support their legal heir status.
b) Necessary application form viz. Death Report (Form No.2) for obtaining the Death Certificate can either be downloaded from the A&N Administration Website (www.and.nic.in) or can be obtained from any of the 86 RBD centres viz. CRBD Office, Port Blair, All District Hospitals, CHCs, PHCs, (except PHC Kishori Nagar and Chouldari) and Sub-Centres. At Kishori Nagar and Chouldari the same can be obtained from the respective Sub-centres.
c) Under Section 108 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 a person who is unheard for more than seven years is presumed dead. However, the said section is silent about the date and place of death which can be determined by a Competent Court/Authority on the basis of the oral/documentary evidence before the Court. As per the clarifications provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs, every applicant/Legal heir should therefore obtain necessary orders from the Competent Court by swearing in necessary affidavit not only for obtaining the date & place of death of the missing person but also for undergoing the delayed registration process under Section 13 of Registration of Births & Deaths Act, 1969. Specimen format of the affidavit is being made available in all the RBD centres.
d) All the applicants/Legal heir of the missing persons shall submit the affidavit duly solemnized before their respective Judicial First Class Magistrate at Port Blair/Mayabunder/Campbell Bay as the case may be along with the Death Report (Form No. 2) and all other supporting evidence/documents as available with them to support the missing event of the person concerned like Tsunami Certificate, FIR lodged, published copy of the list of missing persons in The Daily Telegrams, any reference(s) from the employer/Department etc. to the Office of the Chief Registrar of Births & Deaths for verification and for obtaining Non Availability Certificate (NAC) under Section 17 of the RBD Act, 1969
e) The applicant/Legal heir shall produce the NAC obtained from the Office of the Chief Registrar of Births & Deaths before the Registrar under whose jurisdiction the missing event/death has taken place and the respective Registrar shall arrange to issue the Death Certificate in favour of the missing person after recording necessary entries in the Register of death.
The guidelines/procedures should be followed scrupulously, the Director of Health Services said in a press-note.
