T.N. police to verify character of individuals entering government service

The Tamil Nadu Police will now conduct character and antecedent verification for individuals entering government service. 

According to police sources, the  background check, covering aspects such as behavior, reliability, and trustworthiness, would be carried out as part of the State Police’s e-services, upon payment of a prescribed fee.

The Home Department, accepting recommendations from the Empowered Committee reviewing ‘SimpleGov’ proposals under Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B), and other service categories, has issued an order mandating a character and antecedents certificate by the police as a prerequisite for issuing final appointment orders. “A person with a bad character cannot be appointed in public services that benefit the public,” the order said. 

Earlier process discontinued 

Previously, these verifications were routed through the District Collector’s office. However, challenges such as delays, duplication of records, and the non-core nature of the task for Collectorates prompted the government to discontinue this approach. Handing over the responsibility to the police would ensure greater efficiency and accountability, the sources said. 

Going forward, departments and public sector undertakings (PSUs) would directly apply for verifications on the Tamil Nadu Police website (Citizens Portal) by paying the requisite fee.

In the event of a report with adverse remarks affecting the individual’s prospects or where any information like pendency of a FIR is indicated affecting the applicant’s prospects, the applications would be reviewed by the District Collector who would get an independent assessment done on the candidate and communicate his/her recommendation to the organisation which had sought character verification. 

A senior police official said that the State police were already providing verification services to the public seeking self verification, job verification, tenant verification and domestic help verification. In such applications, the police would verify the identity of the concerned person, present address and his/her involvement in criminal cases as per the records available with the department.

The services were now being made available for Government departments and PSUs to verify the character of job seekers, including through the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC). 

The official said that a detailed order was awaited when asked if the process would apply to private institutions, individuals like contractors and others seeking to engage with the State Government for business purposes.