Karnataka man ‘declared dead’ walks into IAS officer’s office to prove he’s alive: Report

A 62-year-old man from Karnataka Belagavi district recently walked into the office of Belagavi Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Roshan with an unusual request—help in proving he was alive.

According to an Indian Express report, Ganapati Kakatkar, who went with his death certificate, sought to rectify a mistake made by a data entry operator that had declared him dead, causing him to lose his Aadhaar card, bank account access, and various government benefits.

The issue began years ago when Ganapati and his brothers applied for a succession certificate for the land left by their grandfather, who passed away in 1976, the report added. The land had never been transferred after his death, and his three sons eventually passed on, leaving the property to his eight grandsons, including Ganapati. In an effort to transfer the land into their names, the grandsons faced delays due to a missing death certificate for their grandfather. This led them to approach the court, which eventually ordered the certificate to be issued.

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When the trouble began

However, the trouble began when a computer operator at the revenue office in Hindalga mistakenly entered Ganapati’s Aadhaar number instead of his late grandfather’s. As a result, Ganapati’s name was removed from the family ration card and his Aadhaar was locked. Despite multiple attempts to resolve the issue, including visits to the tahsildar’s office, nothing was done. It wasn’t until August 2023 that Ganapati discovered the error, and by June 2024, he traced the problem back to the data entry mistake.

On Monday, accompanied by his family and lawyer, Ganapati approached Deputy Commissioner Roshan, who assured him the issue would be resolved and instructed the assistant commissioner to take action, the report added.

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