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63-year-old Punniadhas’ mother passed away twenty six years ago in 1995 and his father passed away in 2009. Caught up in other immediate formalities and responsibilities at the time, Punniadhas, who is a resident of Chennai and an only child to his parents, managed to apply for their death certificates only in 2018 — over two decades after his mother’s death and almost a decade after his father’s.
For Punniadhas, this delay in registration ended in a prolonged back and forth between the officials of the Greater Chennai Corporation and the police station of the locality where he resided. Despite this, he hasn’t been able to obtain the death certificates of his parents. The reason for this delay in getting the certificate is that when you apply for a death certificate more than a year after the occurrence of death, the process calls for a statement from the Sub Inspector (SI) to validate the cause of the death.
Punniadhas’s case is just one example. There are many more citizens residing in Chennai city who are not aware of the importance of birth and death registration on time, how to go about it and the process to follow in the event of a delay in registering.
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