A day after police commissioner DD Padsalgikar announced that the internal communication will soon be made paperless, the police department on Thursday made the police clearance certificate (PCC) available online for citizens.
The move is aimed at saving time and money of the applicants, who will get the certificate within 10 days of application. Earlier, the process took at least three months, as the Special Branch (SB) office receives as many as 80,000 PCC applications annually.
Briefing the media persons on the initiative, additional commissioner of police (central region) Raosaheb Shinde said, "The online services will start from Thursday. PCC is required for applicants who have applied for long-term visa or residential visa for job purposes and for immigration."
"The new, online process is consumer friendly. Earlier, applicants had to make several visits, bear traveling expenditure to visit the police office and wait for months for the PCC. Instead of that, the applicants will now receive them in just 10 days. We have introduced two websites, www.pcs.mahaonline.gov.in and www.aaplesarkar.mahaonline.gov.in. for managing the applications. We have made the process convenient and transparent," said Shinde.
He added that the department had received several complaints from applicants, claiming that they had to pay off some officials to get the certificate at the earliest. "The current online system allows e-payment of the mandatory expenses, which will prevent such bribe cases. Earlier, the applicants would take out a print of the online forms and submit it along with personal documents at the SB office, after which they would receive a date to visit the police station for verification. On completion of the process, applicants were asked to collect the certificates from the office after three to four months," he said.
Elaborating further, Shinde said an applicant will first have to get a Login ID and a password by registering on the website using their e-mail ID or cellphone number. "Applicants are required to fill an online form and upload their photograph, necessary documents, and signatures. After filling in the form details, the application is forwarded to the SB office, where details are verified from the police station with the help of signatures. A certificate is then prepared and a message is sent to the applicant's e-mail or phone number. The message specifies a date of visit to the local police station for background check verification. Once the verification is complete, the SB would then upload the PCC on the website, which can be downloaded," added Shinde.
