3 min readMumbaiJun 10, 2026 10:33 PM IST
First published on: Jun 10, 2026 at 10:33 PM IST
A day after the state government asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to cancel the amendments made in the 19,734 birth certificates that are currently being investigated for being issued wrongfully to foreign nationals, Mayor Ritu Tawde on Wednesday sought the state government to issue an SOP about how to tackle the major amendments that have been found in the birth certificates that are currently under scanner.
The mayor has also demanded an action taken report from the Mumbai Police within 48-hours with regards to the accused against whom FIRs were lodged for issuing fake birth certificates.
An internal probe within the BMC revealed that as many as 87,347 birth certificates were issued to various foreign nationals between 2024 and 2026, in an illegal manner.
The probe showed that out of these 87,000 certificates, there were 19,000 such certificates where several amendments were carried out without any supporting documents.
These amendments include changes of names, changing the names of the parents, addresses and other details.
On Wednesday, speaking with the mediapersons, Tawde said that the birth certificates where amendments were carried out without documentation now stand at 40,000 in total.
“The number of certificates where amendments were carried out is huge in number and there are both major and minor amendments that were carried out, therefore we have asked the state government to give us an SOP on how we should tackle this issue going forward,” Tawde said.
Civic sources said that the amendments that were made to the certificates have been classified into two manners – major and minor.
Some of the major changes include changing of the address, full name, original date of birth and parent’s name, while some of the minor changes include changing of the spellings in their names.
On February 13, after swearing-in as Mumbai Mayor, Ritu Tawde had announced action against illegal infiltrators in Mumbai.
She also launched a probe into the case of issuance of fake birth certificates following former BJP MP, Kirit Somaiya’s complaints.
Officials said the bulk of the certificates were issued by the two officers against whom police complaints have now been registered. The accused are former Medical Officers of Health in the M East ward, which covers Govandi and Deonar.
As on Wednesday, FIRs were lodged against five persons.
“We have written to the police department and have told them to submit an action taken report to us about the five FIRs that were lodged against the accused,” the Mayor said.
At present, the government mandates usage of the Citizens Registrar System (CRS) for registering birth and death certificates, instead of the SAP system.
However, the BMC data show that between 2024 and 2026 as many as 87,347 allegedly forged certificates issued through the SAP system, 30,507 were generated in 2024, 49,705 in 2025 and 7,135 in 2026.
In contrast, only 33,700 certificates were issued through the officially approved CRS system during the same period.
Mumbai Mayor Ritu Tawde said that the birth certificates where amendments were carried out without documentation now stand at 40,000 in total. (Express file photo) 
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