State orders BMC to cancel 19,734 birth certificates with “illegal corrections”

The directive, sanctioned by the municipal commissioner, comes after a scrutiny of corrections carried out by civic authorities and references earlier communications emphasising that all registrations of births, deaths and stillbirths must be processed through the Civil Registration System (CRS) portal.

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has directed the BMC to cancel 19,734 birth certificate changes that were allegedly carried out illegally under the guise of “corrections” or “spelling corrections”.

State orders BMC to cancel 19,734 birth certificates with “illegal corrections”

In a communication on Tuesday, the government stated that the corrections made in these birth records were not in accordance with the provisions of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, and Rule 11 of the Maharashtra Registration of Births and Deaths Rules, 2000. The BMC has been instructed to revoke the corrected entries after individually verifying each document related to each correction. The original birth records are to be retained in their original form.

The directive, sanctioned by the municipal commissioner, comes after a scrutiny of corrections carried out by civic authorities and references earlier communications emphasising that all registrations of births, deaths and stillbirths must be processed through the Civil Registration System (CRS) portal.

The issue came to the forefront after former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya repeatedly alleged irregularities in the issuance and correction of birth certificates by the BMC. Beginning in 2025, Somaiya raised complaints regarding delayed registrations, alleged fraudulent birth certificates and irregular corrections made without following the prescribed legal procedure. His complaints led to departmental inquiries, suspension of several civic officials and the filing of criminal cases in certain instances.

After assuming office as mayor in February 2026, Ritu Tawde took up the matter and convened a series of high-level review meetings with BMC officials, police officers and Somaiya. In February, she ordered a comprehensive review of birth certificates flagged as suspicious and directed action against officials found responsible for the irregularities. She also sought verification of birth records issued in recent years and called for criminal proceedings in cases involving forged documents.

Subsequently, the BMC scrutinised over 86,000 birth certificate correction cases and found that thousands had either no supporting documents or incomplete records. Civic officials later informed the government that the number of questionable corrections had risen to 19,734, prompting the move to seek cancellation of the corrected entries while retaining the original birth records.

A review of all birth certificate corrections carried out by the BMC is now on the anvil, with the authorities examining whether the changes were made in accordance with statutory procedures and regulatory requirements. After the completion of the verification and cancellation process, an Action Taken Report is to be submitted to the deputy chief registrar, Directorate of Health Services, Pune.