Character Verification Certificate in Andaman and Nicobar Islands

What is a character verification certificate in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands?

A character verification certificate in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is the Police Department's written statement that its records disclose nothing adverse against a named person at the address that person has declared in the Union Territory. The Andaman and Nicobar Administration delivers the service online through its e-District portal at edistrict.andaman.gov.in.

The naming matters more here than in most places. The Administration's own services listing calls it "Application for Character Verification Certificate", and lists it as the single Police Department service on the e-District portal, next to a long Revenue Department list of 42 services that includes income, local, OBC, resident, senior citizen and Scheduled Tribe certificates. Applicants who search the portal for "character certificate" or "police clearance certificate" find nothing and wrongly conclude the service is unavailable.

The certificate is a police document, not a revenue one. No tehsildar or Deputy Commissioner in the islands issues it, because only the police hold the criminal records that the certificate speaks to.

Andaman and Nicobar Police is a substantial force for a small population; organised policing in the islands dates to August 1875, and the force today numbers 5,008 including the India Reserve Battalion, under a Director General of Police assisted by two IGPs, one DIGP, one Commandant of the IR Battalion, seven SPs, thirteen DySPs and four Assistant Commandants.

Who can and who cannot apply?

You can apply for an Andaman and Nicobar character verification certificate if you live in the Union Territory and can identify the police station covering your address, whether that is in Port Blair, on Middle or North Andaman, or in the Nicobar group. There is no income limit, no caste criterion and no age bar, this is a records check, not a welfare benefit, so none of the eligibility tests that apply to the islands' income, OBC or Scheduled Tribe certificates apply here.

You cannot apply on the islands' e-District portal for a mainland address. The Andaman and Nicobar Police can verify only the period and area within its own jurisdiction, and a Kolkata, Chennai or Visakhapatnam address has to be verified by West Bengal, Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh police respectively.

You are also not eligible to receive a clean certificate while a criminal case or an FIR is pending against you. The Police Department records what the register shows, so a pending case appears on the certificate.

Applicants who have lived at more than one island address are eligible, but should expect a longer enquiry, because more than one police station then has to report, and inter-island communication genuinely adds days.

What documents are required?

The e-District flow is built around identity, address, a photograph and an electronic payment:

• Government photo identity proof, Aadhaar, passport, voter ID or driving licence in the applicant's name.
• Proof of the island address to be verified: ration card, electricity bill, rent agreement or property tax receipt.
• A passport-size photograph, in the size and format the upload screen specifies.
• A registered mobile number and e-mail address, because the portal sends e-mail and SMS alerts about your submission.
• The electronic payment receipt the portal generates.

Upload the scans and keep the originals at home too. The officer who visits from the local police station asks to see something physical that ties you to the address, and producing it on the first visit is the single thing that shortens the enquiry most.

How to apply for a character verification certificate in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

1. Register on the e-District portal. New users register at edistrict.andaman.gov.in/RegisterUser/Index, a one-time activity. Use a mobile number and e-mail address you monitor, because the portal's alerts go to both.
2. Log in at edistrict.andaman.gov.in/Account/Login with the credentials you have just created.
3. Open "Application for Character Verification Certificate" under the Police Department. It is the only Police Department entry in the service list, so it is easy to find once you know the exact name.
4. Fill the application. Enter your name exactly as it appears on the identity document, your father's name, date of birth, the complete island address with the tehsil and the police station covering it, your contact details and the purpose — employment, passport, visa, licence or tender. List every address you have lived at in the islands, not only the current one.
5. Upload the documents and pay electronically. The e-District portal supports electronic payment of fees; pay the amount the screen displays and save the receipt along with the application number on the acknowledgement.
6. Stay available for the police enquiry, and track the application on the portal until the certificate is issued.

How to apply through a Common Service Centre

1. Visit a Common Service Centre or citizen facilitation counter with your identity document, address proof and photograph. The e-District design places village-level front-ends at Common Service Centres precisely so islanders without a computer are not cut off.
2. Ask the operator to file the character verification certificate application on edistrict.andaman.gov.in in your name. This is the same online queue, not a separate paper channel.
3. Pay the government fee the portal displays, plus the centre's notified service charge, and collect the printed acknowledgement carrying the application number.
4. Stay reachable for the police station's enquiry, and return to the centre to collect or download the certificate once issued.

How do you check the application status?

Log in to edistrict.andaman.gov.in with the credentials used to file the application, and open it by application number. The portal is designed to let citizens track applications and receive e-mail and SMS alerts on their submissions. Because the substantive step is a police enquiry rather than a software step, an application that looks static for several days is usually sitting with a police station.

Distance is a real factor in this Union Territory. A file that has to travel to a station in the Nicobar group or to North Andaman moves at the speed of inter-island communication, not at the speed of the portal, and that is worth allowing for before you promise an employer a date.

Why do character verification applications get delayed in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands?

• The applicant was not found at the declared address when the officer visited, and no neighbour could confirm residence.
• The address given falls under a different police station from the one selected, so the file waits to be reallocated.
• Name, father's name or date of birth on the form does not match the uploaded identity document.
• A previous island address was omitted and surfaced during the enquiry.
• Uploaded scans are unreadable or in the wrong format.
• A pending FIR or criminal case exists, which the certificate then has to record.

How long does the certificate stay useful?

The Administration does not print an open-ended validity on this document, and the body asking for it sets the limit in practice. Most employers, passport offices and licensing authorities in India accept a police character certificate issued within the previous six months, and many recruitment processes want one issued after the date of the offer letter. Ask the requesting authority how recent a certificate it wants before applying, because a certificate obtained too early usually has to be obtained again.

What does it cost, and what about agents?

Apply directly on edistrict.andaman.gov.in and pay only the fee the portal's own payment screen displays. The Administration's public services listing does not publish a rate card for this service, so the figure on your own payment screen is the authoritative one, and it is the entire legitimate cost apart from a Common Service Centre's notified service charge if you use one. The whole point of the e-District design, in the Administration's own words, is service delivery at affordable cost.

Nobody at a police station in the islands is entitled to a rupee beyond the portal's fee. Agents promising a certificate "by next week" for a few thousand rupees are selling a queue position that does not exist, because the file still goes to the same station and the same verifying officer. Keep the electronic receipt, it is your proof of what the Administration actually charged.

Where do you complain if something goes wrong?

For problems with the portal itself: registration failures, payment not registering, an application that cannot be tracked, the Administration publishes the Officer on Special Duty (IT) as the contact, on 03192-259027 or 03192-259028.

For the police enquiry, approach the police station holding your file, then the Superintendent of Police for your district. The Police Headquarters is at Atlanta Point, Port Blair - 744104, contactable on 03192-230216 and by e-mail at dgp@and.nic.in. Andaman and Nicobar Police also runs a Citizen Service Portal at citizen.andamannicobar.gov.in for complaints, FIR search, NOCs and citizen feedback, which is the right place to record a service complaint in writing.