Citizens Shouldn't Suffer Due To Faulty System/Software Of Government For Issuing Death Certificate: Tripura High Court

The Bench of Justice Arindam Lodh was hearing the plea of one Abhijit Gon Chowdhury whose wife died in Bangalore and he had applied to the Agartala Municipal Corporation for issuance of the death certificate of his wife by submitting all the necessary documents.

It was his specific plea before the Court that despite the fact that over 3 months had passed since his wife died, he had not been issued the death certificate by the Municipal Corporation.

The Municipal Corporation attributed the delay to the software developed by the Government of India, and introduced in Agartala Municipal Corporation by claiming that the system was not allowing the entry or to record the name of the person, who died at a place outside Agartala Municipal Corporation.

To this, the High Court, at the outset, directed the Agartala Municipal Corporation to issue death certificate within 48 hours by any means whatsoever.

"…it may be by manual exercise also or by any modes under which the AMC used to issue death certificate earlier i.e. before installation of the present software," the Court directed.

Further, the Court also remarked that if it finds similar petition filed by any of the citizens of this State, then, a cost of Rs. 5 lakh will be imposed.

Lastly, the State-government was directed to take up the matter with the concerned authorities of the Union of India to resolve the issue so that the citizens of this country may not face any harassment.

With these observations and directions, the instant writ petition stood allowed and disposed of.

Case title - Sri Abhijit Gon Chowdhury v. The State of Tripura and 3 others

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