Sanjay Kothari, the IAS officer who impressed Modi & brought self-attestation of documents

NEW DELHI: When Prime Minister Narendra Modi took credit on August 1 for stepping in to bridge governance deficit by encouraging self-certification in place of attestations and affidavits, he was adopting an initiative being pushed by a bureaucrat since the UPA days.
A letter trail accessed by ET shows that Sanjay Kothari, then the secretary at the Department of Administrative Reforms and Grievances (DARPG), had written to all secretaries of the central government on May 10 and December 13 last year, suggesting them to abolish the requirement of affidavits and promote self-certification.

According to the letters, the Second Administrative Reforms Commission had recommended this measure in 2009. Kothari's voice has only been heard after Modi chaired a meeting on June 4 with all secretaries and spoke on reforming the public service delivery system.

"This measure (selfcertification) is a start in that direction. It is expected to benefit the people immensely, as all affidavits not required by law shall eventually be done away with," the Prime Minister's Office said in a news release on August 1.

The government took the decision after Modi, sometime in late June, saw a detailed presentation from Kothari on the benefits of abolishing the culture of affidavits, sources said. Kothari's presentation said citizens in Punjab, the state which pioneered the move to do away with this practice in 2010, save Rs 600 crore annually as monetary cost of getting affidavits. Also, the time of government officials isn't wasted in attesting documents of the public.

With a go-ahead from the prime minister, Kothari wrote to all secretaries of the Union government and state chief secretaries on July 2, asking them to make provisions for selfcertification of documents and abolition of affidavits.

Apparently impressed by Kothari's work, Modi on July 12 named the 1978-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre secretary of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). Both DoPT and DARPG report to Modi through Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh.

Kothari could not be contacted for comment despite repeated attempts by ET over the past two days. His office said he was extremely busy. Kothari's presentation said declarations by citizens before civil servants should be considered as good as affidavits and application forms be drafted with an undertaking that "facts stated are true and correct to the best of his/her knowledge".

It hence recommended replacement of attestation by a gazetted officer with self-certification by the citizen, and make any false declarations punishable under law. The "way forward" suggested by Kothari in his presentation was that both central and state governments amend their laws to minimise the requirement of third-party verification by officials for issuance of various certificates.