Quick answer: The gazette proforma is the "I hitherto known as" declaration, submitted in two computer-typed copies plus one CD in Word format, never handwritten. It names you, your relationship (son, daughter or wife of), your occupation, your full address, your old name and your new name, closing with the line that you have complied with other legal requirements. Below it, each of two witnesses gives three things: signature, full name and address. The CD version of the same text deliberately leaves the witness details out and carries your old name typed where a signature would go, because that file is what the notification is typeset from.
Almost every "proforma format" you will find online is a shortened copy of a copy. The version the Department actually works from carries fields those copies drop: an occupation line, a relationship line, a two-copies instruction and a witness block with four fields each. And the single most misunderstood rule sits at the end, where the same text has to exist twice in two slightly different forms, on paper with witnesses and on the CD without them. This page walks the specimen field by field with a filled Uttar Pradesh example, then gives the request letter and CD certificate that travel with it, and the wording variants for marriage, minor and surname cases.
The Proforma at a Glance
| What it is | The prescribed "I hitherto known as" declaration for Gazette of India Part IV |
| How many copies | Two computer-typed copies, plus one CD in Word format |
| Never | Handwritten, however neat; handwritten proformas are returned |
| Fields | Old name, relationship, occupation, address, new name, compliance line |
| Witnesses | Two, each giving signature, full name, address and phone number |
| Your signature | Signed in your old name, since that is the identity being retired |
| CD version | Same text without witness details, old name typed in place of the signature |
| Must match | Your affidavit and both newspaper advertisements, word for word |
Key Takeaways
- Two typed copies go in the envelope, not one, and no version of this document may be handwritten.
- The specimen carries an occupation line and a relationship line that most sample formats online quietly omit; fill both rather than leaving gaps.
- Each witness supplies four separate details, and a witness block with only signatures is an incomplete proforma.
- The CD carries the same declaration without witness details, in Word format on a CD rather than a DVD, because the notification is typeset from that file.
- The proforma, the affidavit and both newspaper advertisements must carry identical wording, since the Department compares them before reading anything else.
Proforma Rules: Quick Facts
| Paper copies | Two, computer typed or printed |
| Digital copy | One CD, MS Word, not a DVD and not a scan |
| Signature on paper | Your old name, in ink |
| Signature on the CD file | Old name typed as text; no image of a signature |
| Witness fields | Signature, full name, address, mobile or phone, for each of two witnesses |
| Accompanying papers | Request letter to the Controller of Publication, CD certificate |
| Fee | Rs 1,100 for an adult through BharatKosh, paid separately |
| Where it goes | Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054 |
Table of Contents
- The specimen, field by field
- A filled Uttar Pradesh example
- The witness block
- Why the CD version is different
- The request letter and CD certificate
- Wording variants for common cases
- Six mistakes that return a proforma
- Central Gazette name change: step by step
- Areas we serve
- Related guides
- Why choose our office
- FAQs
The Specimen, Field by Field
The declaration itself is a single sentence with blanks. Here is the structure, with each blank named:
Three notes on fields people leave blank. The relationship line is not optional decoration: it is how the Department distinguishes you from every other person with your name, so complete it as your documents state it. The occupation line appears in the official specimen and is dropped by most templates online; write something accurate and plain, such as student, homemaker, private service or self-employed. And the address should be the same one your affidavit and address proof carry, because a mismatch there quietly stalls verification, as our documents guide explains.
A Filled Uttar Pradesh Example
Names are shown in capitals here because capitals remove any doubt about spelling, which is the entire risk in this document. Whatever style you choose, use it identically in the affidavit, both advertisements and the CD file. If your case is a spelling correction rather than a name change, pause before filing at all: our correction router may save you the Rs 1,100.
The Witness Block
Four fields each, and all four matter. A witness block carrying signatures but no addresses or numbers is an incomplete document, and it is one of the quiet reasons files come back. Choose witnesses who are reachable on the number they give and whose address you can write correctly; family members and colleagues are both fine, and there is no requirement that they be gazetted officers or advocates, whatever a local shop may tell you. One practical habit: get the witnesses to sign both typed copies at the same sitting, because chasing a second signature a week later is how small delays start.
Why the CD Version Is Different
This is the part that confuses almost everyone, and it follows logically once you know what the CD is for. The Department typesets your published notification from the Word file on the CD, so that file is not an archive copy of your paperwork, it is the printer's copy of the text that will appear in Part IV. Three consequences. The witnesses do not appear in the printed gazette, so the CD version of the declaration omits the witness details entirely. A signature cannot be typeset, so the CD file carries your old name typed where the ink signature sits on paper. And the file must be a Word document with real text, not a scan or a PDF image, burned to a CD rather than a DVD. Everything else, every word of the declaration, must be identical to the paper version, which is precisely what the CD certificate below certifies.
The Request Letter and CD Certificate
Two short documents travel with the proforma, and both are easy to get right once you know their shape.
The mobile number and email are not optional courtesies: they are how the Department reaches you if anything needs clarifying, as our address and dispatch guide sets out.
Wording Variants for Common Cases
| Your case | What changes in the declaration |
|---|---|
| Married woman taking a husband's surname | The relationship line reads "Wife of", and the address is the one your current documents carry |
| Reverting to a maiden name after divorce | Relationship line as your documents state it, with the decree in the file as the supporting reason |
| Minor's name change | The guardian files: the parent's details and signature appear, with the child named as the person whose name is changing, at the Rs 1,700 fee |
| Surname added to a single name | Old name is the single name exactly as documents carry it; the new name is the full name with the surname |
| Caste title removed | Straightforward old-name to new-name declaration; nothing in the proforma refers to caste, and no caste record changes |
| Government employee | The occupation line names the service, and your department's own intimation procedure runs alongside |
Each of those cases has its own full guide on this site, from the marriage journey to the minor's file and the surname router.
Six Mistakes That Return a Proforma
- Handwritten, or partly handwritten: filling typed blanks by pen counts as handwritten; type the whole thing including the names.
- One copy instead of two: the specimen asks for two typed copies, and a single copy is an incomplete submission.
- Empty occupation or relationship line: both appear in the official specimen and both should be filled.
- Witness block missing addresses or numbers: four fields each, not just a signature.
- Witness details left inside the CD file: the soft copy omits them, because they are not printed in the gazette.
- Wording differing from the affidavit or advertisement: a single changed letter across the set is the classic objection.
Central Gazette Name Change: Step by Step
Our core service: drafting the proforma, the request letter and the CD certificate so they agree with each other and with your affidavit is a large part of what this office actually does. Here is where the proforma sits in the wider route.
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. The proforma's wording will be copied from this.
Publish two newspaper advertisements
One Hindi daily of your district and one English paper, carrying the same declaration text. Keep complete original pages.
Type the proforma in two copies
Old name, relationship, occupation, address, new name and the compliance line, signed in your old name, with both witnesses completing four fields each on both copies.
Prepare the CD and its certificate
The same declaration in Word without witness details, old name typed in place of the signature, burned to a CD, with the signed certificate that the two versions match.
Pay Rs 1,100 on BharatKosh and write the request letter
E-receipt printed for the file, and the letter to the Controller of Publication listing enclosures with your phone number and email.
Courier to Civil Lines and watch Part IV
Speed Post or a tracked courier from any UP district, then publication in 25 to 45 days, downloaded free from egazette.gov.in.
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 |
| Typing, printing and CD | Nominal at any decent cyber cafe |
| Publication time | 25 to 45 days after the Department receives the file |
Quoted timelines vary wildly online, and so do service fees: packages of Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 for the same file are common. Our own work is Basic from Rs 999 and Complete from Rs 1,999, with the Rs 1,100 government fee paid separately in your own name.
Before You Apply: Check These
- Print two copies of the proforma and get both witnessed at the same sitting, with all four fields completed on each.
- Open the CD file and confirm it is editable Word text, that witness details are absent, and that your old name is typed where the signature belongs.
- Read the declaration aloud from the affidavit, both newspapers and the proforma; they must be identical, including capitalisation of names.
- Fill the occupation and relationship lines rather than leaving them blank, and use the same address as your address proof.
After the Gazette: What Updates Next
Once Part IV carries the notification, download it free, print three copies, and keep them with the affidavit and both newspaper pages, since the passport office will ask for the papers again. Then the usual order: Aadhaar at the Seva Kendra, PAN online, bank, passport, and afterwards the Tehsil certificate family, education records, licence, voter ID and property.
What Other Websites Get Wrong
- Wrong: one copy of the proforma is enough. Right: the specimen calls for two typed copies plus the CD.
- Wrong: the proforma is just names and address. Right: the official specimen includes relationship and occupation lines that most templates drop.
- Wrong: witnesses just sign. Right: each gives signature, full name, address and phone number.
- Wrong: the CD is a copy of the paperwork. Right: it is the printer's text, so it omits witness details and carries a typed old name instead of a signature.
- Wrong: a scanned PDF or a DVD will do. Right: editable Word text on a CD, or the file cannot be typeset.
Areas We Serve in Uttar Pradesh
The proforma is one national format, so a file typed in Ballia and one typed in Noida look identical; only the address line inside it changes. We draft and check these for clients 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 |
Send the details on WhatsApp and the drafted proforma comes back the same day for printing and witnessing in your own city. 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:
- documents for the gazette file: the eight items and the failure each one prevents.
- the gazette office address: where the file goes, and two addresses to avoid.
- the affidavit guide: the wording the proforma must copy.
- the newspaper advertisement guide: the same declaration in print.
- the gazette name change pillar: the full route, rejection causes and tracking.
- Central versus State Gazette: the destination-wise decision table.
- minor name change guide: the guardian-signed version of this file.
- surname change guide: adding, removing or replacing a surname.
- name spelling corrections: when no proforma is needed at all.
- the full cost breakdown: government fees and service fees, line by line.
- contact the office: Lucknow office, phone and WhatsApp.
- bharatkosh fee payment: the exact dropdown path with function head, PAO and DDO codes, and the pay-before-post rule.
- checking publication: the Part IV search and why no tracker exists.
- gazette time and fees: the stage-by-stage clock and honest totals.
- gazette rejection reasons: stoppers, slowers and the ten-minute pre-flight check.
- documents after marriage: the core set and what each counter keeps.
- is it compulsory?: the honest answer before you start anything.
- the marriage certificate: registration and the four exceptions.
- name change for married women: six situations and the route each one needs.
- correction after many years: no deadline for names, and archived registers.
- transliteration mismatch: why both spellings are right and how to standardise.
- affidavit drafts for spelling cases: four formats and the clause they turn on.
- two different names: the three sub-cases and the alias option.
- Aadhaar without a gazette: which document covers which situation.
- father's name affidavit formats: four drafts and who swears each.
Why the Drafting Is Worth Handing Over
A proforma is one page, which is exactly why people underestimate it. The failures are all small: a blank occupation line, a witness without an address, a CD carrying witness details it should not, a capital letter that differs from the affidavit. Vipin Chauhan, B.Tech LL.B, has spent five years drafting these for the Department of Publication from Lucknow.
- One wording, three documents: affidavit, advertisements and proforma drafted together so they cannot disagree.
- The CD prepared correctly: Word text, witnesses removed, old name typed in place of the signature, burned to a CD and checked by opening it.
- Both copies witnessed properly: four fields each, on both typed copies, at one sitting.
- Honest pricing: Rs 1,100 to BharatKosh in your name, our Basic Rs 999 or Complete Rs 1,999, against packages elsewhere that reach Rs 6,000 for the same file.
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.
Get the Proforma Drafted Right
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 your old name, new name, father's or husband's name, occupation and address on WhatsApp. We draft the proforma, request letter and CD certificate to match your affidavit word for word.
Get Call and Name Change Format
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Gazette Proforma Format: FAQs
What is the gazette proforma format?
A one-page declaration reading "I hitherto known as [old name], son, daughter or wife of [name], employed as [occupation], residing at [address], have changed my name and shall hereafter be known as [new name]", closed with the compliance line, your signature in the old name, and two witnesses giving their signature, full name and address.
How many copies of the proforma do I submit?
Two computer-typed copies, plus one CD carrying the same declaration in Word format. A single copy is an incomplete submission, and a handwritten one is returned regardless of neatness.
Can I fill the blanks by hand on a printed proforma?
No. Filling typed blanks by pen makes it a handwritten document for this purpose. Type the whole thing, including the names, and print it.
What details do the witnesses give?
Each of the two witnesses gives three: signature, full name and address. Signatures alone are an incomplete witness block, and both copies need them.
Who can be a witness?
Any two adults who are contactable at the number they give, typically family members, friends or colleagues. There is no requirement that they be gazetted officers or advocates, whatever a local shop may tell you.
Why does the CD version leave out the witnesses?
Because the CD is the printer's copy of the text that will appear in Part IV, and witness details are not printed in the gazette. The same reason explains why your old name is typed there instead of a signature: a signature cannot be typeset.
Can I put a PDF or scan on the CD?
No. It must be editable Word text, on a CD rather than a DVD. A scan cannot be typeset, so a file prepared that way stops the application.
What is the CD certificate?
A short signed statement that the matter in the CD and the hard copy are the same, that you are responsible for any mismatch and for the quality of the CD, and that the statements are true. It travels with the proforma.
What goes in the request letter?
It is addressed to the Controller of Publication, Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, asks for publication of your change of name in Part IV, lists the enclosures in order, and carries your mobile number and email at the bottom.
Do I have to fill the occupation line?
Yes, and it is one of the fields most templates online drop. Write something accurate and plain, such as student, homemaker, private service or self-employed.
Does the proforma wording have to match my newspaper advertisement?
Exactly, word for word, including how the names are capitalised. The affidavit, both advertisements and the proforma are compared against each other before anything else is read.
What does a full file cost if someone else prepares it?
Government fee Rs 1,100 for an adult, affidavit Rs 100 to 500, advertisements a few hundred rupees each. Service packages elsewhere often reach Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000; ours are Basic from Rs 999 and Complete from Rs 1,999, quoted separately from the government fee.
Official Sources
- The Department of Publication's guidelines for change of name, which carry the specimen proforma, the two-copies instruction and the witness fields.
- The requirement that the proforma be computer typed and accompanied by a soft copy in MS Word on a CD, with the matter identical to the hard copy.
- egazette.gov.in, where the published notification appears in Part IV and downloads free.
- bharatkosh.gov.in, the payment route for the Rs 1,100 adult and Rs 1,700 minor fees.
Facts on this page are checked against these sources and our own filing experience. Specimen layouts are revised from time to time; the field set, the two-copies rule and the CD's role as printer's text are the stable core.
The Short Version
Two computer-typed copies of the "I hitherto known as" declaration, carrying your old name, relationship, occupation, full address and new name, signed in the old name, with two witnesses giving signature, full name and address each. One CD carries the same text in Word, without the witness details and with your old name typed in place of the signature, because that file is what the gazette is typeset from. A request letter to the Controller of Publication and a CD certificate travel with it. Every word must match your affidavit and both newspaper advertisements. WhatsApp your details to 9540005002 and we will draft all three documents to agree.