Caste Certificate in Karnataka (Nadakacheri / Atalji Janasnehi Kendra)

What is a caste certificate in Karnataka and who issues it?

A caste certificate in Karnataka is the revenue document that records the caste or community to which you belong and, therefore, the reservation category you can claim in Karnataka. It is required to claim a Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Category 1, 2A, 2B, 3A or 3B backward class reservation in Karnataka government recruitment through the Karnataka Examinations Authority or KPSC, in professional college admissions through CET, in state scholarships, and in departmental welfare schemes.

Karnataka district service pages state the position on authority plainly: a taluk level functionary is authorised for issuing caste certificates in Karnataka. In practice the certificate is digitally signed by the Tahsildar at the taluk office, or by the Deputy Tahsildar, on the recommendation of the village accountant and revenue inspector who verify the claim on the ground.

The delivery platform is Nadakacheri, the Revenue Department's citizen service system built under the Atalji Janasnehi Kendra (AJSK) project. The application is made at nadakacheri.karnataka.gov.in, which routes to the AJSK online login at ajsk.karnataka.gov.in. The same certificate can be requested through Seva Sindhu at sevasindhu.karnataka.gov.in, Karnataka's single-window services portal, which feeds the same revenue back end.

A practical note before you begin: many Karnataka applicants actually need a caste-cum-income certificate, not a bare caste certificate, because most Karnataka reservation benefits below the SC/ST categories are conditioned on family income as well as category. Check the notification you are applying against before choosing the service on the portal, because applying for the wrong one means starting again.

Who can and who cannot apply for a Karnataka caste certificate?

You can apply if:

• You are ordinarily resident in Karnataka, and you apply through the taluk in which you live. Verification runs on the village accountant's records for that taluk.
• Your caste is notified for Karnataka in the relevant Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or backward class list applicable to the state.
• You can produce family caste evidence. An earlier caste certificate issued to your father or another paternal blood relative, or school records carrying the caste entry.
• You supply the income documentation and the self-declaration listed among the required documents on Karnataka district service pages.

You cannot apply, or will not succeed, if:

• Your caste is not on the Karnataka list. A caste notified as OBC in another state or centrally does not automatically produce a Karnataka backward class category.
• You are claiming a category through marriage rather than by birth. Caste status in India follows the community you are born into.
• You are applying outside your own taluk, the application will be sent to the correct taluk office, because the certifying functionary is the taluk officer with jurisdiction over your residence.
• Your claimed category is not supported by any family record and the field verification fails.

What documents are required and what does it cost?

Karnataka district service pages list around eight supporting items for the caste certificate, and put the fee on record.

The documents named on those pages are the application form, a copy of the ration card or voter card, the caste or community report, income documentation, and a self-declaration certificate that the information given is correct, alongside identity proof and a photograph. Where the family already holds a caste certificate, that certificate is the strongest single document you can attach.

Uploads are made as PDF files through the portal, so scan cleanly and keep each file small; oversized or illegible scans are the most common reason a Nadakacheri application bounces back for resubmission.

How to apply for a caste certificate in Karnataka online

1. Open nadakacheri.karnataka.gov.in and go to Online Application, the AJSK login at ajsk.karnataka.gov.in/NK5_Online/Login/Login_Public. Log in with your mobile number and the OTP sent to it. No separate account registration is needed.
2. Choose "New Request" and select the service: Caste Certificate, or the caste-cum-income certificate if that is what your notification asks for. Select the language of the application, English or Kannada.
3. Fill in the applicant details; name, father's name, address, taluk, village or ward, and the exact caste name as notified in Karnataka. Details can be pulled through your Aadhaar or ration card number.
4. Upload the documents in PDF. The ration card or voter card copy, the family's earlier caste certificate or community report, income documentation, the self-declaration and your photograph.
5. Pay the Rs 40 fee online by debit card, credit card or net banking, and save the payment reference.
6. E-sign with the Aadhaar OTP and submit. Note the acknowledgement number the portal returns — every later status check needs it.
7. Wait for verification. The village accountant and revenue inspector verify the claim against village records and, where necessary, a field visit. The Tahsildar or Deputy Tahsildar then approves and e-signs.
8. Download the certificate. Once approved, an SMS with a download link goes to your registered mobile number, and the certificate can also be printed or reprinted from the Nadakacheri portal at any time.

How to apply offline at a Nadakacheri counter

1. Visit the Nadakacheri (Atalji Janasnehi Kendra) counter at your taluk office. These counters exist at every taluk headquarters in Karnataka precisely so that applicants without internet access are not excluded.
2. Ask the operator for the caste certificate application, and state whether you need a plain caste certificate or a caste-cum-income certificate.
3. Hand over copies of the ration card or voter ID, the family's earlier caste certificate, income documentation and your photograph, and sign the self-declaration.
4. Pay the Rs 40 fee at the counter and collect the printed acknowledgement carrying your application number.
5. Track the application online with that number, and collect or download the certificate once the Tahsildar has signed it.

How do I check the status of a Nadakacheri application?

• On nadakacheri.karnataka.gov.in, use the application status option and enter your acknowledgement number.
• Watch the SMS sent to the mobile number on the application. Karnataka's flow sends a message with a download link once the Tahsildar or Deputy Tahsildar has e-signed the certificate.
• At the Nadakacheri counter in your taluk office, the operator can look up the application and tell you which desk it is sitting on.

If the application is pending beyond the stated period, take the acknowledgement number to the Tahsildar at the taluk office, and if that does not move it, to the Assistant Commissioner of the sub-division and the Deputy Commissioner of the district, who head the revenue hierarchy that the taluk functionary reports to.

Is a Karnataka caste certificate valid for life?

A caste certificate records a fact of birth and is not re-issued on a fixed clock. The document that does expire in practice is the income certificate or the income half of a caste-cum-income certificate, because family income changes and most Karnataka backward class benefits are income-conditioned. Where a recruitment or admission notification asks for a certificate issued within a stated recent period, that requirement is almost always aimed at the income element. Read the notification and, if it asks for a recent certificate, apply afresh on Nadakacheri rather than submitting an old one and hoping.

Karnataka also allows a reprint of an already-issued certificate from the Nadakacheri portal, which is the correct route when you have simply lost the copy rather than needing a fresh certification.

Why do Karnataka caste certificate applications get rejected?

• No family caste evidence. With no earlier certificate for a paternal relative and no caste entry in school or village records, the taluk office has nothing to certify against.
• Caste name mismatch. The name entered must match the notified Karnataka entry, not a local or sub-caste variant.
• Wrong taluk. Applying outside the taluk of your residence stalls the file.
• Poor scans. Illegible or oversized PDF uploads are sent back for resubmission and cost you weeks.
• Wrong service chosen, a plain caste certificate submitted where the notification required a caste-cum-income certificate.
• Income documentation missing, which stops a caste-cum-income application outright.
• Mobile number not reachable, so the OTP, the status SMS and the download link never arrive.

Where do I complain or get help?

• Nadakacheri / AJSK portal: nadakacheri.karnataka.gov.in: application, status, print and reprint.
• Seva Sindhu: sevasindhu.karnataka.gov.in, Karnataka's single-window portal, which also carries revenue certificate services.
• Your taluk office, the Tahsildar is the deciding authority and the first place to escalate a delayed file.
• Assistant Commissioner of the sub-division and the Deputy Commissioner of the district, in that order, for a file that has not moved at the taluk.

The Karnataka caste certificate costs the government's own listed fee of Rs 40 and nothing more. Every stage, the OTP login, the upload, the payment, the Aadhaar e-sign and the download, is designed to be done by the applicant on a phone. Touts sitting outside taluk offices who promise a faster certificate for several hundred or several thousand rupees are selling access to a free public queue, and a certificate obtained on false caste particulars is liable to be cancelled along with whatever admission or appointment it secured.