Quick answer: Download your notification free from egazette.gov.in: no login, no fee, and nothing is ever posted to you, because printed sale of gazette copies was discontinued in favour of e-publishing. Save the whole issue PDF unedited rather than a cropped screenshot, note the issue number and date, and print about three copies, since most counters keep one and hand nothing back. The download needs no attestation, notarisation or certification, and any office demanding a "certified gazette copy" is asking for something that does not exist.
Finding your notification is a relief. What follows is a set of small decisions that quietly decide how smooth the next six months are: whether you keep the full issue or a crop of your paragraph, whether you noted the two details that identify your entry forever, how many prints you made before the first counter swallowed one, and whether you know which desk wants the gazette alone and which wants it with your newspaper pages. This page covers all of that, and the one myth that costs people the most time: the belief that a gazette copy must be attested to be accepted.
Your Gazette Copy at a Glance
| Where | egazette.gov.in, the Government of India archive |
| Cost | Free, with no login or registration |
| Format | PDF of the full weekly issue containing your Part IV entry |
| Attestation | Not required: the downloaded file is the document |
| Posted copy | None; physical printing and sale were discontinued |
| What identifies your entry | The issue number and the publication date |
| Prints to keep | About three, because counters keep one each |
| Store with it | The affidavit and both original newspaper pages |
Key Takeaways
- The downloaded PDF is the legal document itself, not a copy of one, which is why no attestation, notarisation or certification is needed anywhere.
- Save the complete issue rather than a screenshot of your paragraph: the masthead, issue number and date are what make the page verifiable.
- Note the issue number and publication date somewhere permanent; that pair identifies your notification for the rest of your life.
- Print about three copies at once, because most counters retain one and returning for another print is a wasted trip.
- Nothing is posted to your address, so if you are waiting for an envelope from Delhi, you are waiting for something that no longer exists.
Using the Copy: Quick Facts
| Aadhaar Seva Kendra | Gazette printout with existing Aadhaar; first counter after publication |
| PAN correction | Online, with the gazette uploaded or attached as required |
| Passport reissue | Gazette plus both original newspaper pages at the PSK |
| Bank KYC | Gazette with a branch request letter; most branches finish in one visit |
| Board and university | Gazette through the school or institution's own correction route |
| Tehsil certificates | Usually reissued fresh once Aadhaar carries the new name |
| Backup | Two digital copies, one on your phone and one in email or cloud |
| Validity | Permanent; a gazette notification does not expire |
Table of Contents
- Downloading it, step by step
- Why to keep the whole issue
- The attestation myth
- How many prints, and what to store with them
- What each counter actually wants
- If you lose the file later
- Central Gazette name change: step by step
- Areas we serve
- Related guides
- Why choose our office
- FAQs
Downloading It, Step by Step
Open the archive and search
On egazette.gov.in choose Search Gazette, set the category to Weekly Gazette, select Part IV and give a Saturday date range. The full method, including what to do when nothing appears, is on our status check guide.
Open the issue that contains your entry
Results list issues rather than people, so download the PDF and use Ctrl+F to find your old or new name inside it.
Save the complete file
Use the PDF's own save option and keep the whole issue with its original filename. Do not crop, re-scan or convert it; an edited file is a weaker document than the one the government published.
Note the issue number and date
Both appear on the masthead. Write them into your phone notes and on the printed copies, because these two details are how anyone later locates your notification again.
Print about three copies
Print the pages that carry the masthead and your entry, and keep the digital original intact. Three is a sensible starting number, since Aadhaar, the bank and the passport file will each absorb one.
Back it up twice
One copy in your email to yourself, one in cloud storage or on another device. The archive stays online, but a two-minute backup saves a future search.
Why to Keep the Whole Issue
The temptation is obvious: your notification is one paragraph in a document of many pages, so people screenshot the paragraph and discard the rest. That is the version most likely to be questioned. A gazette entry is credible because of what surrounds it, the government masthead, the issue number, the publication date and the part and section headings, and a cropped image carries none of that context. Keep the complete PDF as your master file, and print selectively from it. If a counter wants only the page carrying your name, print that page along with the masthead page, so the two together show what the entry is and where it came from. This is also why we tell clients not to convert the file: a PDF re-saved through a phone scanner app looks like a photocopy of a photocopy, which is exactly the impression you do not want at a passport counter.
The Attestation Myth
Somebody will eventually tell you to get your gazette copy attested, notarised, or obtained as a "certified true copy". None of that applies here, and the Department's own guidance is explicit that the downloaded gazette needs no further certification. The reason is structural rather than lenient: the gazette is a published record of the Government of India, available identically to everyone from the same public archive, so there is nothing for a third party to certify. Anyone can verify your copy in a minute by opening the same issue themselves. If a desk insists, the constructive response is to hand over the printout showing the masthead and offer the issue number and date so they can look it up, rather than paying a notary for a stamp that adds nothing. The same logic answers a related question: no, there is no printed original held anywhere for you to collect, because physical printing and sale of gazette copies were discontinued in favour of e-publishing.
How Many Prints, and What to Store With Them
Three is the number we suggest for a reason. In the ordinary sequence, the Aadhaar Seva Kendra keeps one, the bank keeps one for its KYC file, and the passport application absorbs one, and none of them hands it back. Beyond that, the Tehsil, your employer, a school or a university may each want their own. Rather than counting precisely, keep the digital master and print on demand; what matters is never being at a counter with your only copy. Store the prints with two other documents permanently: the original affidavit and both complete newspaper pages. Those three together are the full story of your name change, and the passport office in particular will ask for the newspapers again, which people are always surprised by since they already went into the gazette file. Our passport guide covers that in detail.
What Each Counter Actually Wants
| Where you are going | What to carry |
|---|---|
| Aadhaar Seva Kendra | Gazette printout with your existing Aadhaar; go here first, because everything downstream copies Aadhaar |
| PAN correction | Gazette with the updated Aadhaar; handled online rather than at a counter |
| Passport Seva Kendra | Gazette and both original newspaper pages, with the affidavit available |
| Bank branch | Gazette with a short request letter; identity documents already updated help |
| UP Board or university | Gazette through the institution's own correction chain, not over the counter |
| Tehsil certificates | Usually nothing extra: caste, domicile and income certificates are reissued fresh in the new name once Aadhaar is updated |
| Employer and PF | Gazette with your service record request, which is the record people forget for years |
The order matters as much as the documents, and it is the same order every time: Aadhaar, PAN, bank, passport, then the certificate family, education records, licence, voter ID and property. Our process pillar sets out the full chain.
If You Lose the File Later
Nothing is lost permanently, which is the quiet advantage of an electronic gazette. The archive remains available, so you repeat the search with the issue number and date you noted, or with the Saturday date range around your publication, and download the issue again free of charge. This is worth telling relatives who worry about safeguarding a "certificate": there is no single irreplaceable paper here. Two habits make recovery instant rather than tedious. Keep the issue number and date written somewhere that is not the same device as the PDF, and keep one digital copy in email, which survives phone changes. If you truly cannot locate the entry again, the same search techniques on our status guide apply: Weekly Gazette, Part IV, a generous Saturday range, then Ctrl+F.
Central Gazette Name Change: Step by Step
Our core service: the download is the end of our filing work and the start of your document updates, and both halves are what this office handles for clients across Uttar Pradesh. Here is the route in full, with the download in its place.
Swear the affidavit
Notarised on stamp paper with the old name, new name, address and reason, Rs 100 to 500 at any notary in your district.
Publish two newspaper advertisements
One Hindi daily of your district and one English paper, complete original pages preserved, because the passport office will want them after publication too.
Type the proforma and prepare the CD
Two typed copies with two witnesses giving their signature, full name and address, and the CD carrying the same declaration in Word without witness details.
Pay Rs 1,100 on BharatKosh before dispatch
The printed receipt is an enclosure, so payment comes before the envelope is sealed.
Courier the file to Civil Lines
Tracked dispatch from any UP district to the Department of Publication, Delhi 110054, with the covering letter carrying your phone and email.
Download from Part IV and start updating
Publication in 25 to 45 days, free download of the whole issue, three prints, then Aadhaar, PAN, bank, passport and the certificate family in that order.
Gazette Fees, Time and the File
| Adult gazette fee | Rs 1,100 on BharatKosh |
| Minor, through a guardian | Rs 1,700 |
| Alias line, if wanted | Rs 250 extra |
| Affidavit at the notary | Rs 100 to 500 |
| Newspaper advertisements | A few hundred rupees per paper, edition-dependent |
| Downloading the gazette | Free, no login, no attestation |
| Publication window | 25 to 45 days from receipt at the Department |
The Department's checklist in one line: covering letter with phone and email, affidavit (notarised), newspapers (both, original, whole pages), proforma (typed, two copies, applicant plus two witnesses), CD with signed certificate, photo ID, address proof, photographs, BharatKosh receipt.
Before You Apply: Check These
- Plan for the download from the start: nothing arrives by post, so an email address you actually use belongs on the covering letter.
- Keep both newspaper pages after filing, because the passport counter asks for them again once the gazette exists.
- Decide where your permanent document folder lives, physical and digital, before the notification appears rather than after.
- Expect to print rather than collect, and budget nothing for attestation, because none is required.
After the Gazette: What Updates Next
Aadhaar first at the Seva Kendra, then PAN online, then your bank, then the passport with both newspaper pages in hand, and afterwards the Tehsil certificate family, education records, driving licence, voter ID and property records. Two things people forget for years: the employer service record and PF nomination, and any insurance or investment folio in the old name. Each of those has a guide on this site, and each wants the same downloaded gazette you now hold.
What Other Websites Get Wrong
- Wrong: get the gazette copy attested or notarised. Right: the downloaded file needs no certification of any kind.
- Wrong: a printed original will be posted to you. Right: physical printing and sale were discontinued; the download is the document.
- Wrong: a screenshot of your paragraph is enough. Right: keep the whole issue, because the masthead, issue number and date are what make it verifiable.
- Wrong: pay a fee to obtain your gazette copy. Right: the archive is free and open to everyone, with no login.
- Wrong: the gazette expires or needs renewal. Right: a published notification is permanent.
Areas We Serve in Uttar Pradesh
The download works identically from every district, and so does the update round that follows it, which is why this is the stage where distance genuinely stops mattering. We hand over gazettes and update plans across all 75 districts, most often these:
| Rohilkhand and Bundelkhand | Bareilly, Moradabad, Rampur, Shahjahanpur, Budaun, Pilibhit, Bijnor, Amroha, Jhansi, Banda, Mahoba, Chitrakoot |
| Awadh and central UP | Lucknow, Kanpur, Unnao, Raebareli, Sitapur, Hardoi, Barabanki, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Amethi, Bahraich |
| Purvanchal and eastern UP | Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Ballia, Deoria, Mirzapur, Basti, Ghazipur, Mau, Sonbhadra |
| Western UP and NCR | Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Agra, Aligarh, Mathura, Bulandshahr, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Hapur, Firozabad |
Your local counters differ only in address: the Seva Kendra, the bank branch and the Tehsil are wherever you are. Our chamber is at Chamber No. 19, Sadar Tehsil, Sector 5, Gomti Nagar Vistar, Lucknow 226010, with the city guide on our Lucknow page. Call 9540003316 or WhatsApp 9540005002 from any district.
Related Guides on This Site
Every guide here is part of one connected map, so whichever counter your case lands at next, the page for it already exists:
- checking publication: the Part IV search method, and why no tracker exists.
- the gazette name change pillar: the full route, rejection causes and timelines.
- Aadhaar name update: the first counter your gazette copy meets.
- PAN name change: online, with the updated Aadhaar alongside.
- passport name change: where the newspaper pages are needed again.
- bank records update: the branch letter and KYC visit.
- the name change process: the full update order after publication.
- documents for the gazette file: what went in before this came out.
- the BharatKosh payment guide: the fee, codes and receipt.
- name change in Lucknow: local counters for the update round.
- contact the office: Lucknow office, phone and WhatsApp.
- gazette time and fees: the stage-by-stage clock, five to eight weeks end to end, and honest totals.
- documents after marriage: the core set and what each counter keeps.
- Class 10 and Class 12 corrections: why order matters and why it is four documents.
- the Samadhan portal guide: uploads, tracking and status meanings.
- university degree correction: the source record and the five documents.
- when a college refuses your gazette: the four meanings of no.
- does a correction need a gazette?: no, and the one question to ask.
- the Seva Kendra visit: finding a centre, booking and the counter.
- the birth record after a gazette: why the old name is still there.
Why the Download Is Not the End of Our Work
Plenty of services treat publication as the finish line and go quiet. In practice that is the moment a client has the most questions, because a document they have never seen before now has to open eight different doors. Vipin Chauhan, B.Tech LL.B, has spent five years handing over gazettes and the plan that goes with them.
- We email the PDF the day it appears: with the issue number and date noted, so nothing has to be searched for again.
- You get the update order, not just the file: Aadhaar first, then PAN, bank, passport and the certificate family, in the sequence that avoids repeat visits.
- We tell you what each counter keeps: so you arrive with prints to spare rather than your only copy.
- No charge for anything free: the download costs nothing, needs no attestation, and we will not sell you either.
Associate office at Chamber No. 19, Sadar Tehsil, Gomti Nagar Vistar, Lucknow, serving all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Monday to Saturday, 10 AM to 6:30 PM. Call 9540003316 or WhatsApp 9540005002.
Gazette in Hand? Plan the Next Six Weeks
Uttar Pradesh Name Change
Associate Office: Chamber No. 19, Sadar Tehsil, Sector 5, Gomti Nagar Vistar, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh 226010
Head Office: Metro Pillar 337, Hardev Nagar, Street 1, Shop No 1 (Shri Sham Documentation)
Call: 9540003316
WhatsApp: 9540005002
Email: info@uttarpradeshnamechange.com
Hours: Mon to Sat, 10 AM to 6:30 PM
Send us the gazette PDF and a list of the documents in your old name. We will map the update order and tell you what to carry to each counter.
Get Call and Name Change Format
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Downloading Your Gazette: FAQs
How do I download my gazette name change copy?
On egazette.gov.in, search the Weekly Gazette in Part IV for a Saturday date range covering your publication window, open the issue that contains your entry, and save the complete PDF. There is no login and no fee.
Does the gazette copy need attestation or notarisation?
No. The Department's guidance is clear that the downloaded gazette needs no further certification. It is a published government record that anyone can verify from the same archive, so there is nothing for a third party to certify.
Will a printed copy be posted to my address?
No. Physical printing and sale of gazette copies were discontinued in favour of e-publishing, so the download is the document and nothing arrives by post.
Should I save the whole issue or just my page?
Save the whole issue as your master file. The masthead, issue number, date and section headings are what make your entry verifiable, and a cropped screenshot loses all of it. Print selectively from the master.
How many printouts should I keep?
About three to start with. The Aadhaar Seva Kendra, your bank and your passport file will each keep one, and the Tehsil, an employer or a university may want their own. Keep the digital master and print on demand.
What identifies my notification later?
The issue number and the publication date, both on the masthead. Note them somewhere separate from the PDF, because with those two details anyone can find your entry again in minutes.
What if I lose the PDF?
Download it again free. The archive stays online, so you repeat the search with your issue number and date, or with a Saturday range around your publication window.
Does a gazette notification expire?
No. It is permanent, and old certificates in your previous name continue to be explained by it for the rest of your life, which is why it belongs in your permanent file.
Which counter should I visit first?
The Aadhaar Seva Kendra. PAN, banks, the passport office and the whole Tehsil certificate family read Aadhaar, so updating it first prevents repeat visits everywhere else.
Does the passport office need anything besides the gazette?
Yes, both original newspaper pages, and it is worth having the affidavit available too. This surprises people, since the newspapers already went into the gazette file, which is why we tell clients to keep spare originals.
A clerk is asking for a certified true copy. What do I say?
Offer the printout showing the masthead along with the issue number and date so they can verify it themselves on egazette.gov.in. There is no certified version to obtain, and paying a notary adds nothing to the document.
Can you send me my gazette copy?
For files we handle, we email the PDF the day it appears with the issue number and date noted, along with the update order for your documents. The download itself is free for anyone, and we do not charge for it.
Official Sources
- The Department of Publication's guidelines for change of name, which direct applicants to download the gazette from the portal and state that no further certification is needed.
- The Department's note that physical printing and sale of gazette hard copies was discontinued in favour of electronic publishing.
- egazette.gov.in, the free archive where published issues are searched and downloaded.
- bharatkosh.gov.in, where the publication fee was paid before dispatch.
Facts on this page are checked against these sources and our own filing experience. Counter practice varies at the margins; the free download, the absence of any certification requirement and the permanence of the notification are the stable core.
The Short Version
Your gazette downloads free from egazette.gov.in with no login, and that file is the document rather than a copy of one, so no attestation, notarisation or certified true copy exists or is needed. Save the whole issue unedited, note the issue number and publication date somewhere separate, print about three copies, and back the file up twice. Nothing is posted to you, because printed sale was discontinued in favour of e-publishing. Then run the counters in order: Aadhaar, PAN, bank, passport with both newspaper pages, and afterwards the Tehsil certificates, education records, licence and voter ID. WhatsApp the PDF to 9540005002 and we will map the update order for your documents.