MARGAO
The fake birth certificate racket has come back to haunt the Margao Municipal Council.
Chief Officer Johnson Fernandes and his officials have stumbled upon a fraudulent and bogus non-availability certificate and its mischievous use for securing order of registration of birth from the Margao court.
The episode came to light after the Chief Officer received a copy of the order passed by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Margao, wherein the order was supported by a non-availability certificate purportedly issued last year. What raised many an eyebrow in the corridors of the Margao civic body was the fact that the woman beneficiary of the JMFC order was born on November 6, 1966.
The Sub-Registrar attached to the Margao Municipal Council has records of births and deaths only beginning from 1971. Chief Officer Johnson maintained that the question of the civic body issuing the non-availability certificate of an anterior period does not arise at all. “When the women beneficiary from Curtorim has claimed that she was born in 1966, there’s no question at all of the civic body issuing the non-availability certificate,” he said.
Secondly, the Chief Officer pointed out that the signature of the issuing authority of the non-availability certificate has also been forged, claiming that the signature on the non-availability certificate dated March 3, 2016, is not of the Sub-Registrar attached to the Margao Municipal Council. An inquiry conducted by the Chief Officer has further revealed that the seal of the office as reflecting on the non-availability office does not belong to the Margao Municipal Council office.
The Chief Officer told The Goan that the municipality has decided to lodge a formal complaint with the Margao Police station to conduct a thorough investigation into the episode. “We strongly feel that the beneficiary of the non-availability certificate must have created the certificate through forged and fraudulent means,” he said.
“This issue is very serious. In the first place, the municipality cannot issue a non-availability certificate when the person was born in 1966. We have verified the signature on the non-availability certificate and it does not belong to the municipal Sub-Registrar,” Johnson said.
Officials in the know said that the Chief Officer has put up a note to the Chairperson Babita Angle Prabhudesai and adding that a formal police complaint will be
lodged after receiving the nod from her.
The CO said those involved in the racket should be booked after the custodial interrogation of all the accused in the case.
On May 2016, the Margao police had registered a case against a lady for cheating, forgery and impersonation after she allegedly obtained a non-availability certificate through forgery and cheating.
The CO said that the Margao police should find out whether the police had chargesheeted the 2016 case in the court of law, including the accused and the municipal employee, who was arrested in the May 2016 case.
