Hari's Corner

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My allergy to official forms and papers

Filed under: People and society by Hari
Posted on Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 18:29 IST (last updated: Wed, Jun 22, 2011 @ 18:34 IST)

Paperwork and forms Over the last few weeks, I've been busy as I finally passed out of Law College and now the proud holder of a B.L. degree (that's Bachelor of Laws). But as they say, with great power comes great... paperwork. In recent weeks have had to deal with a lot of official forms, since I have to get enrolled with the Bar Council to practise as an Advocate. Of course, official forms mean spending anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours and they vary in content and difficulty (in filling up efficiently).

Without going into specific details, I have to say that one of the reasons I hate official forms is that they contain so many fields and a bit of information to be collected beforehand, not all of it obvious. Forms with a lot of fields require careful perusal before filling up. You have to concentrate. Mistakes can easily be made in a casual moment. There is also the question of passport sized or profile photographs to be pasted and some forms are finicky about the details, which might mean a visit to the neighbouring photographic studio. Then again, forms require different types of additional documents to be annexed and this means spending time and energy in collecting original documents, taking photocopies and in some cases getting them attested. While many original documents can be easily copied on a home copier, some are unwieldy and large and require to be taken to a stationer's for copying.

The problem doesn't end there. Government forms often require payment of some money to a certain statutory authority and this means going to a bank and getting a D.D. (demand draft) issued in favour of the authority or going and depositing money directly in their account with a deposit slip (a.k.a challan).

Add to all this the ambiguity or complexity you find in so many forms along with lack of proper spacing to fill up certain fields, you can see how filling up official forms can get really frustrating. By the time you're done with a form or a series of forms, it will be a kind of triumph to submit them successfully at the office of the appropriate authority. Then comes the usual official delays and so on, but that's another story.

I am hoping that the future of official correspondence and official form submissions, especially in developing nations will become paperless and a lot more convenient, but I'm not holding my breath. The system as it works now is sustained by paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork, along with a load of supporting documents, most of them originally on paper. Converting this to a suitable electronic system will take a whole lot of concerted administrative effort and shedding a lot of red tape. Governments are notoriously slow. Maybe our grandchildren can dream.

3 comment(s)

  1. Hari - since this relates to a lot of forms pertaining to just joining the Bar, you can make a short check-list of things you need to do for each form, before someone can sit down and fill out the form, and publish it here online. Your blog will be an instant hit (beyond what you already have :) ) - and millions (literally) would benefit.

    Comment by Sudipta Chatterjee (visitor) on Thu, Jun 23, 2011 @ 13:58 IST #
  2. You're alive!

    I thought lawyers loved forms and official documentation :) Pretty soon you'll be the one making them!

    Comment by Dion Moult (visitor) on Thu, Jun 23, 2011 @ 15:41 IST #
  3. Sudipta, I agree and would do it if I have the time. But each State has its own Bar Council with their own set of procedures for enrolment and the set of forms would be slightly different. However, I still think such a check list is useful.

    Dion, lawyers love forms and official documentation, but not in a personal capacity. We love it when clients pay for them. :-P

    Comment by Hari (blog owner) on Thu, Jun 23, 2011 @ 15:50 IST #

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