Applicants lack knowledge of digital certificates for passport
Neeraj Bagga
Amritsar, July 8
Even as the Education Department started issuing digital certificates to those students who passed Class 10 and Class 12 in 2018, most students applying for passports seldom opt for it while filling forms online on the passport portal. The reason for this is the lack of guidance and omission of dedicated help desks at the Regional Passport Office (RPO) here.
Consequently, for want of proper information, they have to run from pillar to post to get the hard copies issued. Passport officials hold youngsters responsible for not carefully reading the form while applying online and depending upon agents to fill the same.
Harpreet Kaur, who did her matriculation in 2021, said online filling of form and getting confirmation for the interview appointment required professional swiftness on the portal. She said she had applied for a passport three months back, in April. Her interview was held a couple of days back. She was startled when she was asked to bring a hard copy of her Class 10 certificate. Without a passport, she can not appear for the IELTS test. Now, she is making rounds of her former school and the Education Department office to get a hard copy of her matriculation certificate.
This is not an isolated case. Narinder Singh, another student, who wishes to study abroad, said he received a terse reply asking him to bring the original copy of the matriculation certificate. He said since there is a long queue of applicants outside the passport office, the officials probably were not given enough time to explain the technicalities to youngsters. So he approached the help desks at the passport office to guide the applicants.
The Education Department started issuing digital certificates, which were visible on DigiLocker, from March 2018. The students are to open online accounts on DigiLocker to access their certificates. From March 2021, students who had passed out were not issued hard copies of certificates too. In 2022, the Education Department started issuing hard copies of certificates only to those students who pay an advance fee of Rs 100 through their school.
Regional Passport Officer NK Shil said each applicant at the time of filling up online forms can choose the DigiLocker option which is visible as ‘Fetch DigiLocker’’ on the portal for uploading their documents. Utilisation of this option will initiate the procedure for passport officials to check online the documents of the candidates. He said youngsters instead of studying the forms rely on agents to submit their applications. He said his office highlighted the facility through advertisements in newspapers.
