e-StampNotary
Read this before you buy stamp paper
Passport work is the area where people are most often sold documents they do not need. The position after the Ministry of External Affairs simplified its documentation is straightforward: most annexures are now plain-paper self-declarations. You print the annexure, fill it in, sign it, and attach it. No stamp paper. No notary. No fee to anyone.
The main exception is Annexure F, the declaration filed where a passport has been lost or damaged. That one still normally has to be a sworn affidavit, and that is the one we are usually asked for.
Every annexure states on its face whether it is a self-declaration or an affidavit. Download the current version from the passport portal and read the heading and the closing paragraph. If it says declaration and provides only a signature block, do not let anyone put it on stamp paper. If it is framed as an affidavit with a verification and an attestation block, it is sworn.
Annexure F - lost or damaged passport
This is a serious document and it is drafted carelessly more often than any other affidavit we see. It has to state, in your own account and not in generalities:
- The passport number, date and place of issue, and date of expiry, so far as you can give them.
- Exactly how and when the passport was lost, or how it was damaged - place, date, circumstances.
- Whether a police report was lodged, with its particulars. A police report is normally expected with a lost-passport application.
- Whether this is the first passport you have lost, and if not, the particulars of the earlier loss. Repeated losses are looked at closely.
- That the passport was not surrendered, impounded, revoked or deposited with any authority.
- An undertaking to surrender the original if it is recovered.
Do not shade this account. A passport is a document of nationality; a false statement about how it went missing is a much heavier matter than a mis-drafted affidavit elsewhere.
The other annexures
The remaining annexures cover situations such as a parent's declaration for a minor's passport where one parent's consent is not available, a declaration by a single parent or by a legal guardian, a declaration of particulars by an applicant with a changed name, and standard declarations about criminal proceedings. For these, work from the current annexure text on the portal. If it is a self-declaration, sign it and file it. We will not take money to notarise a page that does not require notarisation, and if you have been told otherwise by an agent, ask them to point to where the requirement says so.
Where a genuine affidavit still helps
- A changed name. The passport office looks for evidence of the change, commonly a gazette publication, along with the supporting declaration - see name change affidavit.
- Two versions of your name across documents, which a one and same person affidavit reconciles.
- Documents lost along with the passport - see lost document affidavit.
- Marital status questions for a spouse's endorsement, where the office asks for a sworn statement - see marital status affidavit.
What the notary actually does
Section 8(1)(e) of the Notaries Act, 1952 permits a notary to administer an oath to, or take an affidavit from, any person; section 8(2) makes the act complete only under the notary's signature and official seal. Where a document has to take effect outside India, section 8(1)(g) applies and the notarial fee ceiling for such an instrument is ₹200 under Rule 10(1) of the Notaries Rules, 1956. An ordinary affidavit taken on oath is capped at ₹35. Notarisation is not attestation by a consulate, and it is not apostille - if a foreign authority has asked for legalisation, the notarial seal is only the first step in a longer chain.
Where a sworn affidavit is required, stamp duty is as currently prescribed under the Gujarat Stamp Act, 1958 - the current figure is confirmed at the counter. Fee ceilings are as above, receipted, with the entry made in the register in Form XV.
What to bring
- The printed annexure you have been asked for, in its current version from the portal
- Old passport particulars - number, date and place of issue - or a photocopy if you have one
- Police report or acknowledgement, for a lost passport
- Aadhaar and PAN of the applicant
- Damaged passport itself, where the application is for a damaged document
- For a minor's annexure, both parents' identity documents and the child's birth certificate