The Income, Caste, and Residential Certificate is an essential document needed by citizens to prove their citizenship. This certificate allows citizens to avail benefits from various schemes, as this certificate proves to be an excellent source of proof of residence.

What is the purpose of issuing Income, Caste, and Residential Certificate?

The Income, Caste and Residential Certificate is issued by the concerned authority of State government or union territory. This is to certify that the person who possesses the document is basically a domicile or resident of the state or the union territory. 

As mentioned earlier, the greatest benefit of having the Income, Caste and Residential Certificate issued is that it serves as a proof of residence. It is to avail domicile or resident quota often reserved for students in educational institutions and in state/central government services. 

The certificate also comes in handy when people are in need of jobs and when the employer puts out a preference to local candidates. 

Who are considered eligible for the Income, Caste, and Residential Certificate?

Usually, underprivileged children from the Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe can be considered eligible for the domicile certificate. They will also be considered eligible for issuing the Caste/tribe certificate. Other students from other castes will ideally be eligible only for the Residence or Domicile certificate. 

What is the procedure for applying for the Income, Caste, and Residential Certificate?

The Income, Caste and Residential Certificate is issued by the State government authorised centres. Each state government or union territory administration has laid down its own procedure to go about availing the Income, Caste and Residential Certificate. Efforts are being made nationwide to standardise the process and the uniformity of format of application of the Income, Caste and Residential Certificate as far as possible. 

Efforts are constantly being made at making application procedures streamlined and bilingual to be helpful to those who are illiterate and still wish to apply for the Income, Caste and Residential Certificate. 

Process for applying for Income certificate

Though availing caste and residential certificate may not have a concrete structure in place, income certificate on the other hand, can be availed. 

To apply for income certificate, follow these steps. 

  1. Visit the official online portal of your state/district to apply for the income certificate. For example, Tamil Nadu income tax certificate application official website.
  2. Register your name by creating an account. This can be done using a username and password which is kept safe with your mobile number
  3. Login to your new account and click on “Apply for an Income certificate.”
  4. Here, you will be expected to fill in information like Name, age, date of birth, address, gender, details of your ID proof (ration, voter’s ID, or driving license).
  5. Aadhaar Card has been made mandatory in most states now, so if you do not have one, you should apply for one before applying for an income certificate.
  6. Income tax details based on the income tax return, salary certificate, form 16 offered by the employer, or any other proof of income.
  7. Once you have filled in all of the above documents, you will be directed to upload valid documents against your address proof, income proof, and other documents as deemed necessary.
  8. Click on “save” after you have filled in and cross-checked all the information.
  9. Choose your preferred mode of payment and make the statutory payment
  10. You will receive an acknowledgment slip with the acknowledgment number which is generated after the successful reception of your payment. You ought to save this number as this number can be used to track the status of your online income certificate application.

Who is responsible for the issuance of Income, Caste and Residential Certificate?

The central government accepts certificates issued by the following authorities on the prescribed format: 

  1. District magistrate/additional district magistrate/collector/deputy commissioner/additional deputy commissioner/deputy collector/sub-divisional magistrate/taluka magistrate/executive magistrate/extra assistant commissioner. 
  2. Chief Presidency magistrate/additional chief presidency magistrate/presidency magistrate
  3. Revenue officer not below the rank of tehsildar
  4. Sub-divisional officer of the area where the candidate and/or his family normally resides. 

What are the points or factors taken into consideration by the competent authority while issuing the Income, Caste, and Residential Certificate?

The following factors are considered before issuing the Income, Caste and Residential Certificate. 

  1. That the caste or the tribe to which the candidate claims to belong to is included in the presidential orders issued from time to time under the constitutional article 341 and 342. 
  2. That the candidate belongs to the said caste/tribe
  3. The candidate ordinarily resides in the concerned state or part of that state, etc. 

List of documents needed to acquire the Income, Caste, and Residential Certificate

  1.  ID proof such as an Aadhaar Card
  2. Address proof such as voter ID card
  3. Passport size colour photographs
  4. Old income certificate (if available)
  5. Ration card (Below poverty Line) or National Food security card
  6. Signed self-declaration from the applicant or the head of the family

There would also be miscellaneous documents needed apart from the ones mentioned above, which usually are proofs of expenditure like bank statements, etc. 

These documents are needed as a State government requirement or the Union territory requirement. 

The validity of the Income, Caste, and Residential Certificate

The validity of the Income, Caste, and Residential Certificate is based on the financial year mentioned in the document. The certificate, especially in the case of the Income certificate, needs to be updated every financial year to ensure validity.

The old certificate may need to be provided as a key documentary proof which is required for any issue regarding income certificate. 

In case of farmers, there is a special Income certificate, known as Agricultural income certificate. 

An agricultural income certificate comes in handy to farmers for availing bank loans. Agriculture income is also exempted under the Indian Income tax act. 

Summing it up

The income, caste, and residence certificate serves to be an effective tool at giving access across multiple governmental procedures. Not only does it offer the convenience of having a photo ID proof, but it also serves as a proof of residence.