Aaple Sarkar: Certificates, Time Limits and Appeals Under Maharashtra’s RTS Act

Aaple Sarkar is Maharashtra’s portal for public services that the law says must be delivered on time, and its address is aaplesarkar.mahaonline.gov.in. Under the Maharashtra Right to Public Services Act, 2015, an income certificate, a domicile certificate, a caste certificate or a rural birth certificate is a notified service with a fixed time limit and a named officer who answers for delay. Most people come to Aaple Sarkar to apply for one of those certificates, to track an application or to verify a certificate someone has handed them.

The common confusion is that Aaple Sarkar is just a website for forms. It’s the online face of a law, and the law gives you something no form can: when an application is rejected or sits past its limit, you can appeal three times, and the officer at fault can be fined. A second confusion is about complaints. The Aaple Sarkar RTS portal handles notified services and their appeals; general grievances about the government go to a separate state grievance portal. Keep those two apart and the system makes sense.

Aaple Sarkar at a Glance

The portal is maintained by MahaIT (Maharashtra Information Technology Corporation) and sits under the Maharashtra State Commission for Right to Service. These are the basics from the official pages.

How the Right to Services Act Works

The Act turns a request into a right. Every public authority has to publish, on its notice board and portal, the list of services it gives, with the time limit, form, fee if any, the designated officer (the official who must deliver) and the first and second appellate authorities.

When you apply, the authority must acknowledge the application with a unique application number and the time limit. The clock starts only when the application is complete in all respects, which is why a missing document matters so much. The officer must then deliver the service or reject it in writing, with reasons and the name of the first appellate authority.

Here’s how the time limits look for the certificates most people need, from the portal’s own notified list.

The notified list doesn’t print fees, so this guide doesn’t quote them. The amount for an online application appears on the payment screen before you pay.

The idea behind these limits is the same one behind citizen charters, with one difference: a charter is a promise, while a notified time limit under the Act is enforceable through appeal and penalty.

Which Services Aaple Sarkar Offers

The portal groups services by department. The Revenue Department’s certificates are the ones students, job applicants and families use most:

• Age, Nationality and Domicile Certificate, the one Maharashtra calls the domicile certificate
• Income Certificate and Non Creamy Layer
• Caste Certificate
• Temporary Residence, Senior Citizen and Solvency certificates
• Small Land Holder Farmer, Landless and Agriculturist certificates
• Certified Copy of land records and a General Affidavit

Rural Development services cover birth, death and marriage registration certificates, BPL and no-dues certificates. Labour, water resources, urban development and many other departments add licences and registrations. Some business services have moved to the state’s MAITRI portal, and the home page links to it.

What each certificate proves, and which one an office will ask for, is explained in our guides to the income certificate, the caste certificate and the domicile certificate. The state and central versions of the non-creamy layer certificate are a frequent mix-up, and our note on the OBC non-creamy layer separates them.

How to Register and Log In on Aaple Sarkar

Registration happens once, and the details you enter become the base for most certificates the government issues you. The portal asks you to fill them patiently, and that advice is worth taking: a wrong spelling here carries into every certificate.

The portal gives two ways to register:

• Option 1: verify your mobile number by OTP and create a user ID and password. You attach your photo, identity proof and address proof each time you apply.
• Option 2: upload your full profile, photo, identity proof and address proof once. Later applications don’t ask for them again.

To register:

1. Open aaplesarkar.mahaonline.gov.in and click New User ? Register Here..
2. Choose Option 1 or Option 2.
3. Fill the applicant details in English and Marathi: name, father’s name, date of birth, gender, occupation and address as per your documents, down to district, taluka, village and pincode.
4. Enter your 10-digit mobile number, click Send OTP and enter the OTP.
5. Choose a user name and password. The password needs a digit, a lowercase and an uppercase letter and one of the symbols @, #, $ or %.
6. For Option 2, upload the photo and proofs (details below) and accept the declaration.

To log in later, select your district under Citizen Login, enter the user name, password and captcha, and click LOGIN.

Documents and Upload Sizes

The registration page sets strict file rules, and most failed uploads break one of them:

• Photograph: JPEG, 5 KB to 20 KB, 160 pixels wide and 200 to 212 pixels high. The page has a crop tool.
• Identity proof (any one): PAN card, voter ID, passport, Aadhaar, driving licence, government ID, MNREGA job card or RSBY card.
• Address proof (any one): ration card, passport, Aadhaar, driving licence, voter ID, 7/12 and 8A extracts, property tax receipt, property agreement, water, electricity or telephone bill, or rent receipt.
• File format for proofs: JPEG or PDF, 75 KB to 256 KB each.

Each certificate then asks for its own evidence, such as income proof for an income certificate or a family member’s caste record for a caste certificate. The service page lists them before you start.

How to Apply for a Certificate

The online route and the counter route end in the same place: an application ID and a time limit.

1. Log in and open the department, then the service you need.
2. Fill the form and check the fields pulled from your profile.
3. Upload the documents the service asks for.
4. Pay the fee shown on the payment screen, if the service carries one.
5. Submit and note the Application ID on the acknowledgement. It’s your handle for tracking, downloading and appealing.

Prefer not to do it yourself? An Aaple Sarkar Seva Kendra files the same application. The portal’s Sewa Kendra menu lists centres by area. Take the original documents and the fee; the operator fills the form online and gives you the receipt.

How to Track and Verify

Tracking needs no login. On the home page, under Track your Application, pick the department and service, enter the Application ID and click GO. The Act makes online status updates a duty of the authority, so a stuck status is itself worth raising.

To check a certificate someone has given you, use Verify Your Authenticated Certificate on the same page. Select the department and enter the 18-digit barcode printed on the certificate. A college, employer or bank can do the same, so a certificate issued through the portal can be checked without a phone call to the tehsil.

How to Appeal a Delay or Rejection

The appeal is what makes Aaple Sarkar more than a form. The Act sets three levels, each with its own deadline:

1. First appeal: to the first appellate authority within 30 days of the rejection or of the time limit expiring. It can be admitted up to 90 days for sufficient cause, and must be decided within 30 days.
2. Second appeal: to the second appellate authority within 30 days of the first order, or after 45 days if the first authority passes no order. It must be decided within 45 days.
3. Third appeal: to the Maharashtra State Commission for Right to Service within 60 days of the second order. The Commission disposes of it within 90 days. The home page has a separate Registration for Third Appeal link.

If an appellate authority finds the designated officer failed without sufficient cause, it must impose a penalty of Rs 500 to Rs 5,000, recovered from the officer’s salary if unpaid. Repeated failure leads to disciplinary proceedings.

The appeal isn’t for every complaint. It covers a notified service that was refused or delayed. A complaint about a road, a ration shop or an officer’s conduct belongs on the state’s separate grievance portal, and the wider system is explained in our note on grievance redressal mechanisms.

What Changed in 2025

Many notified services were still being delivered offline, and the government said so in a General Administration Department circular dated 2 May 2025. It counted 1,027 notified services and set deadlines:

• 138 services already online on department portals to move onto Aaple Sarkar by 31 May 2025;
• 306 services still offline to go online on Aaple Sarkar by 15 August 2025;
• every remaining service of departments, boards, local bodies and universities to be notified and put online by 15 September 2025.

The circular also put a price on failure: Rs 1,000 per service per day, recovered from the salary of the department or office head responsible. Whether every service met those dates isn’t published on the portal, so check the department list before assuming a service is online.

Common Errors and Their Fixes

The same problems come up again and again, and each has a fix:

• Photo rejected. The size or dimensions are off. Resize to 160 pixels wide, 200 to 212 high and under 20 KB, or use the crop tool.
• Document rejected at upload. Proofs must be JPEG or PDF between 75 KB and 256 KB. Rescan rather than compressing a phone photo to mush.
• Name differs across documents. The certificate will carry the profile name. Correct the profile before applying, not after.
• Time limit seems to have passed. The clock runs from a complete application. If the officer recorded a deficiency, fix it; if not, file the first appeal.
• Forgot user name or password. Use Forgot UserName or Forgot Password on the login box.
• Unsure where to start. Call 1800 120 8040, which the portal runs round the clock.

Aaple Sarkar works best when you treat the time limit as yours. Note the Application ID, count the days and use the first appeal on day 31, because the Act built that step for exactly this.

Frequently Asked Questions

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