The government’s upper hand in creating a paperless environment by digitising records across departments including minorities’s welfare department has met with dogmatic confrontation, with qazis and Muslim clergy locking horns over the move.
As per the sources, officials of the Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications had approached the MWD early in January and expressed their intention of ensuring transparency by digitising records of the department’s agencies.
Among the documents which are to be electronically stored are marriage and divorce certificates, issued by the office of the Nazir ul Qazaath (NuQ), a part of the AP State Wakf Board (APSWB) machinery.
Moreover, wakf records, including those of appointment of mutawallis (managers) of institutions and mosque committees, all sanctioned by the board, too will be digitally stored.
After the qazi solemnises a marriage, a copy of the nikah proforma is sent to the APSWB after that the qazi hands over marriage booklets to husband and wife.
The APSWB issues a marriage certificate, after charging a fee, once a copy of the booklet is furnished. Though the applicant will have to approach the APSWB for the original certificate, the government now is thinking about to route the applications for obtaining second and subsequent copies of the certificate via MeeSeva. The digitised records will be just a stone’s throw away in the MeeSeva storage servers. The service is scheduled to go live from February 27.
Syed Akbar Nizamuddin Hussaini, member of the Association of Sajjada Nasheen Mutawallis and Protectors of Wakf, a body of prominent Islamic scholars said, “Digitisation of wakf records is a welcome move. But, bringing divorce and marriage certificates online, into public domain, is an infringement on an individual’s privacy. A Pandora’s Box will be opened if this happens. Property disputes and other forms of litigation will ensue if these documents fall into hands of mischief-makers. There is no reason why a third party should store records of individuals.”
When got in touch with MWD special secretary Syed Omar Jaleel said, “A person in Vijaywada would have to come all the way to Hyderabad to get a second copy of a marriage certificate can now do so at a MeeSeva centre in his city. The certificate will have a digital signature instead of a manual one.” Interestingly, the proposal of digitising religion conversion certificates has been shelved.
Government officials, on the other hand, maintained that the move is to ensure transparency and would reduce to bare bones in procedure. The digitisation will begin with retrospectively with records of the year 2013-14 being scanned first, followed by documents of 2012-13 and 2011-12.