Name Change for Government Employees in Uttarakhand
How a serving employee changes a name in the service record: the deed, the two publications, the simpler route for a woman's surname on marriage, and what is updated after the order.
A name change for government employees follows a central procedure of 1987. The employee executes a deed changing the name, and publishes the change in a prominent local newspaper and in the Gazette of India, at his or her own expense. The office then alters the service book. A woman's surname on marriage needs only an intimation and a request.
A name change for government employees is not done by updating Aadhaar and telling the accounts section. The name in a service book is changed by a set procedure, and pay, provident fund and pension all follow that book. This page explains name change for government employees in Uttarakhand, central and state, and the papers the office will ask for.
This is work we do. We prepare the deed, the newspaper notice and the Gazette of India file for employees, and we do not deal with your office for you. For the Gazette in general, read gazette name change in Uttarakhand.
What Is the 1987 Procedure?
The Department of Personnel and Training laid down the procedure for change of name by Government employees in an office memorandum dated 12 March 1987. Government orders still cite it when they allow an officer's name to be changed.
| Step | What the procedure says |
|---|---|
| The deed | An employee wishing to adopt a new name, or to modify the existing name, may do so formally by a deed changing the name |
| The newspaper | The deed is followed by publication of the change in a prominent local newspaper |
| The Gazette | And by publication in the Gazette of India |
| The cost | Both publications are at the employee's own expense |
| The service book | After these formalities, the new name is entered in the service record |
Note which Gazette is named. For a central Government employee, it is the Gazette of India. A state Gazette does not meet the memorandum.
The Department of Publication, which publishes the Gazette, carries this through in its own guideline. It provides for Government employees to submit a deed for change of name under the same memorandum, and attaches a specimen.
Which of the Three Kinds of Request Is Yours?
| Kind of request | Who | What is required |
|---|---|---|
| Any addition, deletion or change in a name or surname | Any employee | A deed, a notice in a prominent local newspaper, and a notice in the Gazette of India |
| Addition or change of surname only, on marriage or remarriage | A woman employee | A formal intimation of the marriage to the appointing authority, a request for the change, and the husband's particulars for the service book |
| Deletion of a surname, or reversion to the maiden name, on divorce, separation or the husband's death | A woman employee | An intimation of the change in marital status, and a formal request to revert to the maiden name |
The second and third rows are the lighter routes, and they are limited. They cover the surname only, and only for the reasons stated. A woman who wants to change her first name, or to take a surname for any other reason, comes under the first row like everyone else.
Who Does It Apply To?
- Central Government employees, in ministries, departments and their offices in the state. The memorandum is theirs.
- All India Service officers serving in the state. Orders changing such an officer's name cite the same memorandum.
- The defence forces, the railways and the central police forces have their own instructions, which follow the same pattern through the unit or the office. Ask your record office.
- State Government employees are governed by the state's own service rules and orders. See the section below.
- Employees of public sector bodies, banks and universities follow their own staff rules, which commonly ask for the same three papers.
Whoever your employer is, the first step is the same. Write to your head of office and ask which order governs a change of name in your service, and what papers are to be given. Do that before you spend on anything.
Why Is a Correction Not a Change?
A correction
- The service book was written wrongly at joining
- Your matriculation certificate shows the right name
- Example: the certificate says Bisht and the service book says Bist
- You ask the office to correct its entry with reference to the certificate
- The deed and the Gazette are not what the 1987 procedure is about here. Ask the office what it needs
A change
- The service book matches your matriculation certificate
- You now want a different name, a different spelling or a surname added or dropped
- Example: both say Rakesh Kumar and you want Rakesh Kumar Negi
- This is an addition, deletion or change of name
- The deed, the newspaper and the Gazette of India are required
Many employees who ask us for a Gazette are in the first box. If the service book alone is wrong, and your certificates and identity papers all agree, a written request with the matriculation certificate may be all the office needs. Ask it before you start a Gazette.
What Is the Deed?
A member of the public changing a name gives the Department of Publication an affidavit. A Government employee gives a deed, in the form attached to the procedure.
- In the deed the employee renounces the use of the former name, adopts the new one, and authorises everyone to address him or her by it.
- It is signed in both the former and the adopted name.
- The Department of Publication's guideline, as it is reported, asks for the deed to be typed on plain paper and signed by two witnesses of the rank of Gazetted officer of the same department, with their rubber stamps.
- The deed states the employee's post and office, which then appear in the Gazette notice.
The witnesses are the practical difficulty. Two Gazetted officers of your own department have to sign and stamp. Speak to them before the deed is typed, and get the wording right the first time, since a deed with a correction on it invites a query.
Check the witness requirement against the Department's current guideline before you sign. We work from the current text when we prepare a file.
What Are the Steps, in Order?
Step 1: Write to your head of office
State that you intend to change your name, and ask for the order that governs it and the list of papers.
Step 2: Decide the exact new name
The spelling, spacing and order you will carry on every record for the rest of your service and your pension.
Step 3: Execute the deed
In the prescribed form, signed in both names, with the witnesses the guideline requires.
Step 4: Publish the change in a prominent local newspaper
Keep the original newspaper, and spare copies for the office.
Step 5: Publish it in the Gazette of India
Through the Department of Publication, Part IV. The steps are set out below.
Step 6: Apply to the office with all three
The deed, the newspaper and the published Gazette notification, with a request that the service record be altered.
Step 7: Obtain the office order
The office issues an order allowing the change, and enters the new name on the first page of the service book.
Step 8: Carry the order through every other record
Pay, provident fund or pension account, identity papers, bank and nominations. The list is below.
What Is the Route for a Surname on Marriage?
The procedure makes a separate, simpler provision for a woman employee's surname.
| Occasion | What she gives the appointing authority |
|---|---|
| Marriage or remarriage | A formal intimation of the marriage, a request for the change in her surname, and her husband's particulars for the service book |
| Divorce, separation or the husband's death | An intimation of the change in marital status, and a formal request to revert to her maiden name |
- No deed, newspaper or Gazette is asked for under these two heads.
- The office will want proof of the event, such as the marriage certificate or the decree.
- The change is optional. A woman employee may keep her name as it is, and many do.
- Her other records, Aadhaar, PAN and the bank, are updated separately, on the marriage certificate.
Where she wants something the provision does not cover, such as a new first name or a double surname, the full procedure applies. See name change after marriage in Uttarakhand.
What Is Updated After the Order?
In the office
- The first page of the service book
- The pay bill and the salary account's name
- The provident fund or pension account
- The identity card and seniority list
- Nominations for provident fund, gratuity and insurance
- The health scheme card
- The family details given for pension
Outside it
- Aadhaar
- PAN, which your tax deducted is reported against
- The bank account that receives your pay
- The passport and the driving licence
- Insurance policies and investments
- Property and vehicle records
Do PAN and the bank account promptly. Pay credited in one name to an account in another, with tax reported against a PAN in the old name, makes work at the end of the year. See name change in PAN card and name change in Aadhaar card.
Your degrees and certificates are not reissued. The office order and the Gazette notification link them to your new name.
What About State Government Employees?
An employee of the Government of Uttarakhand is governed by the state's own service rules and Government orders, not by the central memorandum as such.
- States commonly follow the same pattern: a deed or an affidavit, a newspaper notice and a Gazette notification, then an order of the head of the department.
- We could not confirm the text of the state's own order, or which Gazette it names. Ask your head of office or the personnel section for it, in writing.
- Where the state's order names the state Gazette, the notice goes through the state's press at Roorkee. Where it accepts the Gazette of India, that has the wider use.
- Teachers, police personnel and employees of local bodies have their own controlling offices. The request goes up through the head of the institution.
Do not assume. An employee who publishes in the wrong Gazette has to publish again.
What About Public Sector, Bank and Private Employees?
- Public sector bodies and banks have staff rules of their own. Most ask for a Gazette notification and a newspaper notice before altering the personal file, and many accept an affidavit in place of a deed.
- Universities and aided institutions follow their statutes, with the request going through the registrar or the management.
- Private employers have no fixed rule. A request with the Gazette notification and updated Aadhaar and PAN is usually enough for the personal file.
- For everyone, the provident fund record is separate from the employer's file and has its own procedure through the employer.
Ask the human resources or establishment section for its written requirement before you prepare papers.
How Is the Gazette of India File Prepared?
The notice is published in Part IV of the Gazette of India by the Department of Publication. For an employee, the deed takes the place of the affidavit.
Step 1: Get the office's requirement in writing
And confirm that it is the Gazette of India your order names.
Step 2: Execute the deed in the prescribed form
With your post and office stated, signed in both names, and witnessed as the Department's guideline requires.
Step 3: Publish the newspaper notice
In a daily local leading newspaper, stating your father's or husband's name and your address. Keep the original newspaper.
Step 4: Type the specimen for the Gazette
Two typed copies, giving your old name, your new name, your post and office and your address, signed with two witnesses.
Step 5: Sign the undertaking
Showing your old and new name, in full.
Step 6: Prepare the CD, photographs and certificate
The same text on a CD in MS Word, two self-attested photographs with identity proof, and a certificate that both copies match.
Step 7: Pay the charge on BharatKosh
Rs 1,100 for an adult's change of name. It is not refunded.
Step 8: Send the file, then apply to your office
Send it to the Controller of Publications, Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054. Download the published Gazette, and give it to your office with the deed and the newspaper.
When Is the Uttarakhand Gazette the Right One?
Only where the order governing your service names it. For a central employee, it is not.
Step 1: Read the order that governs your service
Ask the personnel section for a copy.
Step 2: Note which Gazette it names
If it accepts either, the Gazette of India serves your other records better.
Step 3: Contact the Government press at Roorkee
Take the contact from govtpress.uk.gov.in and ask how a state employee's change of name notice is submitted.
Step 4: Ask for the papers, the format and the fee, and submit
Some state notices have to be forwarded by the department. Ask. Keep photocopies.
Step 5: Download the notice and apply to your office
Search gazettes.uk.gov.in and save the PDF.
To weigh the two, read Uttarakhand Gazette vs Gazette of India.
What Does It Cost, and How Long Does It Take?
| Item | Cost | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Government fee, Gazette of India | Rs 1,100 for an adult, paid on BharatKosh | Commonly 3 to 7 weeks to publication |
| Newspaper notice | The newspaper's own rate | A few days |
| The deed | Typing, and the witnesses' time | As long as it takes to reach two officers |
| Our charge | Quoted per case | We start the day your papers are complete |
| The office order | None | For the office to say |
The procedure puts the cost of both publications on the employee. It is not reimbursed.
Think about timing against your career. Do not start in the months before a promotion, a transfer on deputation, a passport application or retirement, when your papers are being examined. The year before retirement is the worst time, since pension papers are prepared from the service book.
Which Mistakes Do Employees Make?
| Mistake | What to do |
|---|---|
| Changing Aadhaar and PAN first, and the service book never | Follow the procedure, then update the rest |
| Starting a Gazette for a clerical slip in the service book | Ask for a correction on your matriculation certificate |
| Publishing in the state Gazette as a central employee | The procedure names the Gazette of India |
| Giving an affidavit where a deed is required | Use the prescribed deed |
| Getting the deed witnessed by friends | Follow the Department's requirement on witnesses |
| Not asking the office first | Get its requirement in writing |
| A woman employee doing the full procedure for a surname on marriage | An intimation and a request are what the procedure asks |
| Starting in the year of retirement | Do it well before pension papers are prepared |
| Stopping at the service book | Carry the order to pay, provident fund, PAN and the bank |
A typical case we handle: an assistant in a central office at Dehradun wanted to add his family surname, which was on none of his certificates. He had already changed his Aadhaar, and his office refused to alter the service book on that. We prepared the deed in the prescribed form, which two officers of his department witnessed, the newspaper notice and the Gazette of India file. With the published notification he applied to his office, which issued an order and altered the first page of the service book. This is an illustrative example of the type of case we handle, not a named client review.
What is a lawyer's job, not ours
An office that refuses to act on complete papers, a dispute about a date of birth in the service book, and any service matter before a tribunal.
When you do not need us
For a clerical slip in the service book, and for a woman employee's surname on marriage, you need only a written request to your office with the proof. We are useful for the first kind of request, where the deed, the newspaper and the Gazette of India are required.
Which Areas of Uttarakhand Do We Cover?
All 13 districts: Dehradun, Haridwar, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Uttarkashi, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat and Pithoragarh. We work on WhatsApp and by courier, so an employee posted in a remote station need not take leave to visit us.
People Also Ask About a Government Employee's Name Change
How can a government employee change his name?
By a deed, a notice in a prominent local newspaper and a notice in the Gazette of India, then an office order.
Is gazette notification compulsory for government employees?
For a change of name, the 1987 procedure requires publication in the Gazette of India.
How does a woman employee change her surname after marriage?
By a formal intimation of the marriage and a request to the appointing authority, with her husband's particulars.
What is a deed for change of name?
The employee's formal declaration giving up the old name and adopting the new one, in the prescribed form.
Can I change my name in the service book with Aadhaar?
No. The service book is altered on the set procedure and an office order.
Who pays for the publication?
The employee. The procedure says it is at the employee's own expense.
Where is a change of name published in the Gazette of India?
In Part IV, the part for advertisements and public notices, under the heading Change of Name. Each notice is signed in the existing old name.
Do people from Uttarakhand publish in the Gazette of India?
Yes. Part IV issues of 2025 carry change of name notices from people living in Uttarakhand, including Haridwar district, alongside notices from other states.
Is a printed copy of the Gazette still issued?
No. The Government stopped printing physical copies of the Gazette on 1 October 2015, and the notice is downloaded from the e-Gazette portal. Give your office a print of the published issue.
Do other states ask their employees for an office NOC?
Some do. Odisha, for example, takes Gazette applications online and asks a Government servant for approval or a no objection certificate from the office, with a filled deed form. Ask the Uttarakhand personnel department what it requires.
Do central employees need a no objection certificate before the deed?
Some guides say they do. We could not confirm this in the 1987 memorandum, so ask your head of office in writing before the deed is typed.
How is the Gazette fee paid?
Online, on BharatKosh, with the receipt sent along with the file. The charge for an adult's change of name is Rs 1,100.
Get the Deed and the Gazette File Prepared
Send your present name as in the service book, the name you want, your post and office, and what your office has asked for. We will tell you, free, if it is a correction your office can make itself, or a change that needs the deed and the Gazette of India, and what it will cost.
- 📞Call 9540005026
Mon to Sat: 9 AM to 6 PM - WhatsApp 9540005064
Send your scans here, it is the fastest way - ✉️Info@uttarakhandnamechange.com
- 📍Dehradun District Court, 47/9, Haridwar Road, Near Prince Chowk, Court Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001
Name Change for Government Employees: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the procedure for a name change for government employees?
Which Gazette is required?
Is a deed different from an affidavit?
Who witnesses the deed?
Who bears the cost?
How does a woman employee change her surname on marriage?
Can she go back to her maiden name after a divorce?
Must a woman employee change her surname on marriage?
My service book has a spelling mistake. Do I need a Gazette?
I updated my Aadhaar. Will the office change the service book on that?
Do I need permission before I start?
Does the same apply to state Government employees?
What is updated after the order?
Will my degrees be reissued?
How long does it take?
What do you do, and what do you not do?
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Who Wrote and Reviewed This Page?
This page is written by the Documentation Desk Team of UttarakhandNameChange.com, the team that prepares Gazette files for people across Uttarakhand.
It is reviewed by Advocate Vipin Chauhan.
The procedure, its three heads and the employee's own expense are from the Department of Personnel and Training's memorandum of 12 March 1987, as quoted in Government orders and in the Department of Publication's papers. The witness requirement for the deed is as reported from the Department of Publication's guideline. We could not confirm the state's own order for its employees. Your head of office is the authority for your service.
Official Sources
- Department of Personnel and TrainingThe office memorandum on change of name by Government employees.
- Department of Publication: Change of Name and Public NoticesThe guideline for an adult, with the deed for Government employees.
- The Gazette of India, e-Gazette portalWhere the notification is published and downloaded.
- BharatKosh, Non-Tax Receipt PortalPayment of the Government charge.
- Government of UttarakhandThe state portal, with links to the personnel department.
Name Change for Government Employees: The Short Version
A Government employee changes a name by a deed, a notice in a prominent local newspaper and a notice in the Gazette of India, at his or her own expense, after which the office alters the service book. A woman employee's surname on marriage, or her return to a maiden name, needs only an intimation and a request. A clerical slip in the service book is a correction, not a change.
Ask your office first, in writing. To have the deed and the Gazette of India file prepared, send your details on WhatsApp 9540005064, and we will reply in working hours.
A Deed, a Newspaper, the Gazette of India
Send your service book name and the name you want on WhatsApp. We tell you, free, which route applies.