Name Change With Thumb Impression in Uttarakhand: For a Person Who Cannot Sign

The fifth row is the one a family most needs answered, and we will not guess at it. A file marked wrongly may be returned, and the fee is not refunded.

The third is different in kind, not in degree. A family that treats it as the first, to save trouble, does the person a wrong and creates a paper that can be undone.

Step 1: Ask first if a Gazette is needed at all

Most elderly people's trouble is a spelling or a home name on one record, which that office corrects.

Step 2: Find out why the person cannot sign

Never learnt to write, or can no longer do so through age, illness or loss of sight. The papers differ a little for each.

Step 3: See that the person understands and agrees

The change is the person's own decision. Nobody can decide it for an adult who understands.

Step 4: Take the person to the notary in person

With an identity paper, and someone the person trusts who can read.

Step 5: Have the affidavit read over and explained, in the person's own language

Then the thumb impression is put, and the notary records that it was read over and understood.

Step 6: Have witnesses sign beside the impression, with their names and addresses

And write whose impression it is, and of which thumb.

Step 7: Ask the Gazette office, before filing, how it wants the form marked

The form is ordinarily signed in the old name. Do not guess at this step.

Step 8: Use the same thumb, the same way, on every later paper

Aadhaar itself needs no signature. Banks and the passport office have their own rules for an impression.

• The person goes before the notary, with an identity paper. The notary has to see who is swearing.
• The affidavit is read aloud and explained, in the language the person speaks at home.
• The person says that it is true and that he or she agrees.
• The thumb impression is put, in ink, where the signature would be. Its owner's name and the thumb used are written beside it.
• The notary adds a note that the contents were read over and explained to the person, who understood them.
• Someone who knows the person signs as having identified him or her, with name and address.

An affidavit with a bare thumb mark and no such note is weak, and may be refused. Read name change affidavit in Uttarakhand.

These are not formalities. An old person's thumb impression can also give away land. Offices know it, and look closely at who brought the person and why.

Step 1: Fix the exact new name, and read it aloud to the person

In the form the person says it. Then spell it for those who will type it.

Step 2: Make the affidavit, with the thumb impression attested

As set out on this page. This is the paper everything else rests on.

Step 3: Publish the newspaper notice

In a daily local leading newspaper. Keep the full original page.

Step 4: Prepare the form in two copies, marked as the Gazette office directs

With two witnesses, who sign with their names and addresses.

Step 5: Prepare the soft copy, photographs and certificate

The same text on a CD in MS Word, two photographs with identity proof, and a certificate that both copies match.

Step 6: Pay the charge on BharatKosh

Commonly Rs 1,100 for an adult. It is not refunded.

Step 7: Send the file

To the Controller of Publications, Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054.

Step 8: Update Aadhaar first, with the person present

Aadhaar is updated on fingerprints or iris, not on a signature.

See gazette name change in Uttarakhand.

A typical case we handle: a man in Pauri wrote that his mother, who cannot write, was "Kamla" on her Aadhaar and "Kamla Devi" in her widow pension record, and that the bank had asked for a Gazette. We asked if she had ever taken a new name. She had not. Nothing was to be published. Her pension record was brought to her Aadhaar at the social welfare office, on her own thumb impression before the official. No affidavit to Delhi was needed, and we charged nothing. This is an illustrative example of the type of case we handle, not a named client review.

When you do not need us

For a spelling, a home name, a change of signature and an Aadhaar update. The offices concerned settle those with the person present. We are useful only where a person who cannot sign is in fact changing a name and a Gazette notification is needed.

Can an illiterate person change a name?

Yes, with a thumb impression in place of a signature.

How is an affidavit made with a thumb impression?

It is read over, explained, and attested by the notary.

Which thumb is used for a thumb impression?

The passport office says the left. Ask each office.

Can a son sign for his mother?

No. Her own mark is needed.

Is a gazette needed for an old person's name mismatch?

Usually not. It is often a correction.

Does Aadhaar need a signature?

No. It is updated on fingerprints or iris.

Does the law treat a thumb mark as a signature?

Yes. A legal opinion quoted by the Reserve Bank of India explains that under the General Clauses Act, "sign", for a person who is unable to write his name, includes "mark".

What if the person has lost both hands?

The same opinion, citing a 1950 Supreme Court ruling, says there must be physical contact between the person and the mark, and that a person who has lost both hands can sign by a mark put by an instrument that has touched the person.

How does a bank let an old or sick customer draw money?

The Reserve Bank's guidance says the customer may name who will withdraw the amount. That person is identified by two independent witnesses and gives his own signature to the bank.

What is limited guardianship?

Under section 14 of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, a district court or designated authority may appoint a limited guardian for a person with disability who cannot take legally binding decisions even with support. It is joint decision-making, for a specific period and decision, according to the person's will.

Can a power of attorney be used once a parent loses understanding?

No. A legal guide notes that once mental incapacity arises, a power of attorney ceases to have effect. Read our page on power of attorney name mismatch.

What is a nominated representative under the Mental Healthcare Act?

Section 14 of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 provides for a nominated representative. That role is limited to decisions about mental healthcare and treatment, not to a change of name.