Character Certificate (Police) in Uttarakhand

What is a character certificate in Uttarakhand?

A character certificate in Uttarakhand is Uttarakhand Police's written statement that its records show nothing adverse against a named person at the address that person declared. Uttarakhand Police lists it explicitly as one of the citizen services provided under the CCTNS project, and delivers it through the Police Citizen Portal at policecitizenportal.uk.gov.in, which the department links from its own site at uttarakhandpolice.uk.gov.in under Citizen Services.

Uttarakhand uses the plain phrase "Character Certificate" on its portal. The service is listed as Character Certificate Request, which makes it easier to find than in the states that brand it as a Police Clearance or Police Verification Certificate. District administrations across Uttarakhand, Almora among them, also list the character certificate among the services citizens obtain locally.

This is a police document, not a revenue one. Uttarakhand's e-District portal issues income, caste, domicile and permanent residence certificates through the Revenue Department, and a tehsildar or Sub-Divisional Magistrate signs those. No revenue officer issues a character certificate, because only the police hold the criminal records the certificate speaks to. Applicants regularly lose a week filing on the e-District portal before finding this out.

Who can and who cannot apply?

You can apply for an Uttarakhand police character certificate if you reside in Uttarakhand and can name the police station whose jurisdiction covers your residential address. There is no income limit, no caste criterion and no age bar. This is a records check rather than a welfare benefit, so none of the eligibility tests that govern Uttarakhand's income, caste or EWS certificates apply here.

You cannot apply on the Uttarakhand portal for an address outside Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand Police verifies only its own jurisdiction, and a previous address in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh or Delhi has to be verified by that state's police. Leaving that earlier period off the form causes trouble at the enquiry stage rather than avoiding it.

You are also not eligible to receive a clean certificate while an FIR or a criminal case is pending against you. Uttarakhand Police reports what its register shows, and a pending case surfaces during verification.

Applicants who have lived at more than one address inside Uttarakhand can apply, but should expect a longer enquiry, because more than one police station then has to report.

What documents are required?

Uttarakhand's flow is unusual in one respect worth knowing before you start: the documents go into your profile, not into the individual request. Uttarakhand Police instructs applicants to update the profile immediately after registration and to upload the photo, identity proof and address proof there, so the same set serves every service and every future request on the portal.

• A photograph of the applicant.
• Identity proof: Aadhaar card, Voter ID, passport or driving licence in your own name.
• Address proof for the Uttarakhand address to be verified; electricity bill, ration card, property tax receipt or a registered rent agreement.
• A document showing the purpose, where you have one, since the request form asks why you are applying.

Keep the originals at home as well as uploading scans. The officer who comes from the local police station will ask 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 certificate in Uttarakhand online

Uttarakhand Police sets out the process on its own Character Certificate page as a short sequence, and registration is a one-time step:

1. Register on policecitizenportal.uk.gov.in, or log in if you already have an account. Uttarakhand Police describes registration as a one-time activity, so returning applicants skip straight to login.
2. Update your profile and upload the documents. Uttarakhand Police asks you to do this immediately after registering; photo, identity proof and address proof — because those uploads serve all services and future references, not just this request.
3. Open the Character Certificate Request from the Citizen Services list and fill the request form. Complete every mandatory field marked with an asterisk, including personal details, address, contact number and the purpose of applying. Enter the address that the police station will actually visit.
4. Verify the information before submission. Uttarakhand Police warns that once you submit, the request will not be editable, so a mistake in the address, the father's name or the date of birth means starting a fresh request rather than correcting this one.
5. Submit the request. Uttarakhand Police sends alerts by SMS and email carrying the Service Request Number. Save that number, it is what you quote in every follow-up.
6. Stay available for the jurisdictional police station's verification. The station covering the address you entered checks you at that address before the certificate is issued.

How do you check the application status?

Log in to policecitizenportal.uk.gov.in with the account you registered and track the request by its Service Request Number, the same number the SMS and email carried. Because the enquiry sits with a police station rather than the software, a request that appears unchanged for several days is normally waiting on the station's report. If nothing has moved for well over a fortnight, visit the station covering your address with the Service Request Number in hand.

Why do Uttarakhand character certificate applications get delayed?

• The profile was never completed, so the photo, identity proof or address proof required by the portal is missing.
• The applicant was not found at the declared address when the verifying officer visited, and no neighbour could confirm residence.
• The address entered falls outside the jurisdiction of the station the request went to.
• Name, father's name or date of birth on the form does not match the identity document in the profile, and because the request cannot be edited after submission, this means a fresh request.
• A previous Uttarakhand address was left off the form and surfaced during the enquiry.
• Uploaded scans are unreadable or in the wrong format.
• An FIR or criminal case is pending, which the verification then has to record.

Uttarakhand's hill districts add one practical wrinkle: in Pithoragarh, Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Bageshwar, a verifying officer covering scattered villages may take longer to reach the address than in Dehradun or Haridwar. Being reachable on the registered mobile number matters more there than anywhere else in the state.

What does it cost, and what about agents?

Uttarakhand Police collects the character certificate application on its own citizen portal, and whatever charge the portal displays to you at the time of the request, free, or the government's listed fee: is the entire legitimate cost. Where you file through a Common Service Centre, the operator's notified service charge is on top of that and nothing else is.

Nobody at a police station or a district office is entitled to a rupee beyond it. Agents who promise a character certificate "in two days" for a few thousand rupees are selling a queue position that does not exist: the file still goes to the same police station and the same verifying officer. File the request yourself on policecitizenportal.uk.gov.in, keep the Service Request Number and any receipt the portal generates, and treat that record as your proof of what the government actually charged.

For problems with the portal itself, Uttarakhand Police publishes 9411112985 and the email dgc-police-ua@nic.in, at Police Headquarters, 12 Subhash Road, Dehradun 248001. For a stalled verification or a demand for money, the Superintendent of Police for the district is the right escalation, and the district's own police office is the place to raise it in person.