24-05-2025
Accept OCI booklet as identity proof for processing legal heirship application, HC directs Tahsildar
The Madras High Court has directed Egmore Taluk Tahsildar in Chennai to process the legal heirship certificate application filed by a woman by accepting her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) booklet as identity proof instead of insisting upon production of Aadhaar card.
Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy pointed out that the writ petitioner Manel Amrithkala's husband had died at a private hospital in Chennai on March 5, 2025 and therefore, she wanted to obtain a certificate declaring herself and her two sons as the legal heirs of the deceased.
However, since all three of them were residing abroad, they were not in possession of Aadhaar cards. The petitioner also found that she could not make an online application for the issuance of legal heirship certificate unless she entered her Aadhaar card details in the portal.
Relying upon a Central government order which requires State government to accept OCI registration booklets as identity proof for the services to be rendered to them, the judge directed the Tahsildar to process the physical application filed by the petitioner and pass appropriate orders within four weeks.
