Act in fake certificate scam, Additional Chief Secretary tells DGP Haryana

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, July 28

A major scam of issuing fake birth and death registration certificates by using fake entries in the official IDs of registrar and sub-registrar in various districts of the state including Panipat, Sonepat, Kaithal, Panchkula, Bhiwani, Nuh and others has come to the fore.

Sources said that some hackers were issuing fake certificates reportedly by making fake entries on the civil registration system (CRS) portal after hacking the official site maintained by the Registrar General of India.

Taking a serious note of it, Rajeev Arora, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, wrote a letter to the DGP, Haryana, to initiate action against the people involved in issuing fake birth and death certificates in the state.

Arora in the letter said that district registrar Palwal, Panipat, Nuh, Panchkula and Bhiwani had complained but no action has been initiated into the matter so far, said sources.

The matter came to light after the district health officials got a tip-off from the higher officials about entries of fake birth and death registration. Following the tip-off, Civil Surgeon Dr Jaswant Singh Punia ordered an inquiry into the matter.

During preliminary investigation, over 578 fake entries have been found in the portal of the Kharkhoda CHC. Besides, the department also found fake entries in Sisana PHC and Baroda CHC also.

Dr Geeta Dahiya, Deputy Civil Surgeon, Sonepat, said that the official IDs of the registrar and sub-registrar have been hacked and as many as 578 entries have been found fake on the official ID of Kharkhoda CHC, a fake death certificate was issued from Baroda CHC and fake entry was found in Sisana PHC’s official ID.

We have given complaints to the police to register a criminal case against the unidentified hackers who were involved in making fake entries in the official portal and issuing fake birth and death certificates, Dr Dahiya said.

Dr YP Singh, Additional Chief Registrar (Birth and Death) said that the online system of registration of births and deaths was launched by the Union Government in 2016 and the state has adopted this system.

Earlier, the record was maintained manually as well as in computers, but after the launch of the uniform online portal, the record of births and deaths was maintained on the portal only, he added.

Dr Singh said fake entries have not only been reported from Sonepat district but also from Panchkula, Kaithal, Madlauda in Panipat, Faridabad, Gurugram, Nuh and other districts across the state.

Six fake registration centres were found in Panchkula district on the portal. These were shut by the authorities in June. At a PHC of Nuh district, 75 entries of birth certificates were found fake, said Dr Singh.

The officials have been directed to analyse the data in all general hospitals, CHCs and PHCs across the state and to register criminal cases in the matter in their areas concerned, said Dr Singh.

Rajeev Arora, ACS, health and family welfare, Haryana, has also written a letter to DGP Haryana about the hacking of the official site and to initiate action against the hackers, Dr Singh maintained.

Civil registration system hacked

• Sources said that hackers were issuing fake certificates reportedly by making fake entries on the civil registration system (CRS) portal after hacking the official site maintained by the Registrar General of India.
• During preliminary investigation, over 578 fake entries have been found in the portal of the Kharkhoda CHC. Besides, the department also found fake entries in Sisana PHC and Baroda CHC also.
• District registrar of Palwal, Panipat, Nuh, Panchkula and Bhiwani had complained but no action has been initiated into the matter so far, said sources.