EWS (Economically Weaker Section) Certificate in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu

What is the EWS certificate in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu?

The EWS certificate in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is the Revenue Department's Income and Asset Certificate proving that a general-category family belongs to the Economically Weaker Sections and can claim the 10% reservation created by the 103rd Constitutional Amendment. The UT Administration's Revenue Department lists the EWS Certificate among the 15 services it delivers through SUGAM, the UT's online service portal at sugam.dddgov.in, and the portal routes the service to Mamlatdar Daman Services and Mamlatdar Diu Services.

The Mamlatdar. The taluka revenue officer, the equivalent of a Tehsildar in most other states, is therefore the officer who decides and signs an EWS certificate in this UT. The same office handles the domicile certificate, income certificate, heirship certificate, caste certificate, OBC certificate and the NCL (OBC renewal) certificate, along with land records in Form 7/12, Form 8, Form 3, Form 5 and Form 9, property cards, site plans and document registration.

An EWS certificate is not a caste certificate and it is not the ordinary income certificate; the Revenue Department lists those as separate services precisely because they certify different things.

Who can and who cannot apply?

You can apply for an EWS certificate in this UT if you and your family ordinarily reside in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman or Diu, you are in the general category outside the SC, ST and OBC reservations, and the family's gross annual income for the financial year preceding the application was below Rs 8 lakh from all sources put together.

You cannot apply, and are not eligible, if you belong to a community covered by the SC, ST or OBC reservation. This exclusion matters more here than in most jurisdictions: Dadra and Nagar Haveli in particular has a very large Scheduled Tribe population, who claim ST reservation and cannot also hold EWS status. The Revenue Department issues those families a caste certificate instead, through the same Mamlatdar office.

Regardless of income, a family is also excluded from EWS if it owns or possesses:

• 5 acres of agricultural land or more;
• a residential flat of 1,000 sq ft or more;
• a residential plot of 100 sq yards or more in a notified municipality;
• a residential plot of 200 sq yards or more outside notified municipalities.

Property held by the family in different locations or different places or cities is clubbed together before this test is applied. In a UT whose three districts are geographically separated, and whose families often hold land in neighbouring Gujarat as well, this clubbing rule decides a great many applications. Land anywhere in India counts, not only land inside the UT.

"Family" for the EWS test means the person claiming the benefit, their parents, their siblings below the age of 18 years, and their spouse and children below the age of 18 years.

What documents are required?

The Mamlatdar decides an EWS application on two things, the family's income and the family's assets, so the file has to prove both:

• Aadhaar card as identity proof for the applicant.
• Proof of residence in the taluka; voter ID, ration card, an electricity bill, or the UT's own domicile certificate, which the Revenue Department issues through the same Mamlatdar office.
• Income proof for every earning member of the family. A salary certificate or Form 16 for salaried members, the income tax return where there is business or professional income, and proof of agricultural income where relevant.
• Land record in Form 7/12 or Form 8, and the property card where the family owns a plot or flat, which establish landholding and area against the EWS limits. The UT delivers these through SUGAM as well, so you can pull a fresh copy from the same portal before applying.
• A signed self-declaration of the family's gross annual income for the preceding financial year and of the family's land and property holdings.
• A passport-size photograph in the format the application form specifies.

Take originals to the Mamlatdar office even when scans have been uploaded, because the verifying clerk may ask to see them.

How to apply for an EWS certificate online through SUGAM

1. Open sugam.dddgov.in and go to the Services page. Find EWS Certificate under the Revenue Department services listed for Mamlatdar Daman Services and Mamlatdar Diu Services.
2. Register and log in. Create a citizen account with your mobile number and verify the OTP; the same login covers every SUGAM service, including the land records you may need to attach.
3. Fill the application form; applicant's details, family details covering parents, siblings below 18 and spouse and children below 18, the family's income from every source for the preceding financial year, and the family's land and property with area and location.
4. Upload the documents: Aadhaar, residence proof, income proofs, land record, photograph and the signed self-declaration, within the size limits the upload screen states.
5. Pay the fee shown on the payment screen, if the service page displays one, and submit.
6. Save the application reference number from the acknowledgement. Every later step — tracking, a visit to the Mamlatdar office, an escalation: starts from that number.

How to apply at the Mamlatdar office

1. Visit the Mamlatdar office of your taluka; Daman, Diu, or the taluka office serving Dadra and Nagar Haveli, with originals and photocopies of your Aadhaar, residence proof, income proofs and land record.
2. Ask for the EWS (Income and Asset) Certificate application form and fill it, attaching the self-declaration of income and assets.
3. Submit the form at the counter, pay the fee the office states, and collect the acknowledgement carrying the reference number.
4. Collect the signed certificate from the same office once it is issued, or download it from your SUGAM login where the office has issued it digitally.

The Revenue Department's contact details published on ddd.gov.in place the department at Daman, PIN 396220, with a listed telephone number of 2230698 for the department office.

How do you check the application status?

Log in to sugam.dddgov.in and use the application tracking option with the reference number from your acknowledgement. Where the Mamlatdar issues the certificate digitally, the same login is where it can be downloaded.

If the file has not moved, take the reference number to the Mamlatdar office of your taluka. The usual delay is the field verification of the income declaration and the land record by the Talati or the circle inspector. If the Mamlatdar office does not act, escalate to the Collector of the district; Daman, Diu, or Dadra and Nagar Haveli, who heads the revenue administration.

What does it cost, and what about agents?

An EWS certificate here is a government service, applied for on the UT Administration's own SUGAM portal. Pay only the fee that the SUGAM service page displays at the payment step, or the amount the Mamlatdar office states at the counter. Nothing beyond that is payable to anyone.

No Talati, Mamlatdar office clerk, agent or "consultant" is entitled to a rupee more. In a small UT where the same handful of offices handle every revenue service, agents trading on familiarity with the staff are common, and they are selling a form you can file yourself in a few minutes. The file still reaches the same Mamlatdar in the same queue, and still waits for the same verification. Keep the SUGAM receipt or the counter receipt, and report a demand for extra money to the Mamlatdar or the district Collector's office.

Why are EWS applications rejected in this UT?

• The applicant belongs to SC, ST or OBC and so cannot hold EWS status at all, the single most common cause in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, where ST reservation covers a large part of the population.
• Family income for the preceding financial year reaches Rs 8 lakh once every earning member and every source is added together.
• The land record shows 5 acres or more of agricultural land, or a plot or flat above the EWS limits, once holdings across the UT and in neighbouring states are clubbed.
• Income proof is missing for one or more earning members of the family.
• The applicant does not ordinarily reside in the taluka whose Mamlatdar was applied to. A real risk in a UT with three separated districts.
• Names or the father's name differ between the application, Aadhaar and the land record.

What could not be independently verified

The exact government fee and the notified service delivery period for the EWS Certificate on SUGAM could not be read from the UT Administration's public pages at the time of writing, the Revenue Department's service listing on ddd.gov.in confirms the EWS Certificate as a service and SUGAM confirms it sits with the Mamlatdar Daman and Mamlatdar Diu offices, but neither publishes a fee table or timeline in the open pages. Check the fee and timeline on the SUGAM service page after logging in, or ask at the Mamlatdar office, and pay only the amount shown there.