Thiruvananthapuram: In a major relief for public, the Cabinet  has decided to exempt application fee for government services.

The government will also direct the departments concerned to make the application forms simple and restrict the form to a single page. However, application fee will remain for business and commercial requirements.

The Cabinet decided to simplify the procedures for granting various certificates and services to the citizens. The process of granting permission  on various applications will also be made easy.

These steps are being taken besides the process of converting most of the government services online. The Cabinet decided that if required the rules and laws would be amended further for making the government services hassle-free and simple.

A certificate issued once can be utilised for the requirements in other government offices. The departments concerned can decide about the duration.  

However, the duration should be of a minimum of one year.

From now on it will not be mentioned that the certificate is being issued for a particular objective or use.

No more attestation hassles

Also henceforth, the certificates and documents for various government services need not be attested by gazetted officers or notary. One can self-attest the copy of the certificate/document.

The current system of attestation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and the certificates issued to scheduled caste categories as per existing rules, will  however, continue in the same manner.