Bengaluru: Caste, income and residence certificates are now being issued over the counter by the State Government since January 2018 in what is touted as India’s first such facility.

Applicants are issued these three certificates instantly — in under 10 minutes — without the need for any field verification, resulting in significant time-saving for both citizens as well as Revenue officials.

Launched last month, the facility is available in 100 taluks across 17 districts and at all the 800 Rural Nada Kacheris.

With an aim to serve citizens better, Revenue Department, through its Village Accountants went house-to-house and through enquiries has finalised caste, income and residence details of every family and individual. Accordingly, data has been created, digitally signed and kept ready for issuance, the moment a citizen applies.

“Two years ago, we took the ration card database, printed village-wise booklets with family details and conducted field inquiry through which we recorded caste, income and residence details of four crore citizens,” said Survey, Settlement and Land Records Commissioner Munish Moudgil, who is anchoring this project.

“An applicant can walk into any citizen service centre, provide the ration card number or his name. The software will throw up a list of names matching our records. The applicant, after confirming the details, will be issued the certificate over the counter without any verification,” he said. The regular mode of issuance takes nearly two weeks.

Now, these certificates can be printed online from home or a cyber cafe. Online certificates are available at — www.nada kacheri.karnataka.gov.in (click “Apply online”). This is first time in the county that a citizen can print original certificates online from anywhere and anytime.