Correction to a Published Gazette
Your notification has been published and something in it is wrong. There is a proper mechanism for this, called a corrigendum, and the Department of Publication's own guidelines set out how it works. There is also a deadline almost nobody publishes: six months from the date of publication. After that the ordinary route closes, and whose mistake it was decides whether the fix costs you anything.
A corrigendum is the Department of Publication's own mechanism for correcting a mistake in a notification that has already been published in the Gazette of India. Its guidelines state that a corrigendum must be applied for within six months from the date of publication, and that you must produce both the published copy of the notification and a photocopy of what you originally submitted. Whether you pay depends entirely on whose error it was: if the mistake was the Government of India Press's own, on the Department's stated position no charges apply; if the mistake was in your own application, you pay and submit fresh corrigendum sets. This detailed procedure is published by the Department under Part III Section IV of the Gazette, and the Department's separate Part IV guidelines, the part where personal name changes are published, do not carry their own corrigendum clause. We treat the procedure below as the Department's stated general practice and tell you, honestly, where to confirm the specific position for a Part IV notification rather than assume it is identical.
What actually happens once something is wrong
The mechanism exists. The deadline is real. And no, you cannot make the original disappear.
At a glance
- Six months, not forever. The Department's guidelines state a corrigendum must be applied for within six months from the date of publication.
- Keep a photocopy before you send anything. You need it if a correction is ever needed, and by then it is too late to make one.
- Whose mistake decides the cost. A Government of India Press printing error, on the Department's stated position, carries no charge. Your own error means you pay and resubmit.
- A corrigendum corrects. It does not erase. The original notification stays in the record, and the corrigendum sits alongside it.
- There is no unpublishing. Gazette publication is a public record by design, and confidentiality cannot be requested under normal provisions.
- Original ink signatures are required. On the source document for this procedure, digitally signed or scanned signatures are not accepted.
- The English and Hindi sets are typed on separate sheets. A formatting requirement that is easy to miss.
- Payment goes through the Non Tax Receipts Portal. NEFT is the Department's own stated fallback if NTRP itself has a payment issue.
- The published fee figure belongs to a different part of the Gazette. Personal name changes publish in Part IV, and the detailed corrigendum guideline is published under Part III Section IV. Confirm the Part IV position directly rather than assume a figure from elsewhere applies.
- If six months have passed, you have options, just not the ordinary corrigendum route without asking first.
Key takeaways
- The rule comes from the Department itself. Its published guidelines set out the six-month window, the two documents you must produce, and the fault-based fee split, in its own words.
- Where the rule is published matters. This detailed corrigendum procedure sits in the Department's Part III Section IV guidelines. Its separate Part IV guidelines, covering personal name changes, do not publish their own corrigendum clause, so treat the fee and exact timing as the Department's stated general practice for a corrigendum, and confirm the Part IV position with the Department directly.
- The photocopy is the whole case. Without a copy of what you actually submitted, you cannot prove a Press error occurred, and the question of whether you pay becomes much harder to argue.
- Permanent means permanent. A corrigendum adds a correction to the record. It does not remove the original entry, and there is no confidential or withdrawn status available.
- The free checks matter more than anything paid. Every check that prevents an error costs nothing. The same error after publication is fixable, but never free of the fact that it happened.
The rule, from the Department's own guidelines
Nobody in this market publishes these terms in full. Here they are, as the Department itself states them.
| Point | What the Department states |
|---|---|
| Deadline | Within six months from the date of publication of the notification |
| What you must produce | The published copy of the Gazette notification, and a photocopy of the notification originally submitted to the Department |
| If the Government of India Press made the error | No charges are applicable |
| If the error was on your part | An amount as per existing charges has to be deposited, with fresh sets of the corrigendum |
| What a fresh set means | Two fresh copies of the English and Hindi sets of the notification, complying with the guidelines, plus a new soft copy |
| Formatting | The English and Hindi corrigendum matter must be typed on separate sheets |
| Payment | Through the Non Tax Receipts Portal. If NTRP itself has a payment issue, the Department's own guidance allows NEFT as a fallback |
Two of those rows deserve attention because they catch people out. The six-month window is a hard deadline on a document most people only examine closely when something has already gone wrong, which is often months later. And the requirement to produce a photocopy of what you originally submitted assumes you kept one, which a great many applicants do not.
One honest caveat, because it changes how you should read every figure on this page. This detailed corrigendum procedure, the six months, the photocopy requirement, the fault-based fee split and the separate-sheet formatting, is published by the Department under its Part III Section IV guidelines. Personal name changes are published under Part IV, and the Department's own Part IV guideline documents do not carry a separate corrigendum clause of their own. We give you the mechanism exactly as the Department states it, because it is the clearest published statement of how a corrigendum works and independent guidance describes the same fault-based practice, and we tell you plainly to confirm the specific position, especially the fee, for your Part IV notification directly with the Department rather than assume a rate published elsewhere applies to you.
Whose mistake was it?
This is the question that decides whether a correction costs you anything, and it is worth being honest with yourself about the answer.
A printing or typographical error by the Press
If what was published differs from what you submitted, that is the Government of India Press's error, and on the Department's stated position no charges are applicable. This is precisely why the photocopy of your submission matters. It is what proves the difference between what you sent and what was printed.
An error in your own application
If the gazette faithfully reproduces what you sent, and what you sent was wrong, you pay. Independent guidance puts the practical consequence plainly: where the error was in your application, the fee is paid afresh and the process repeated.
Sit down with both documents before you approach anybody. Put the published gazette beside the photocopy of your submission and compare them line by line. Within a minute you will know which of the two situations you are in, and therefore whether you are asking for a free correction or paying for a new one.
And be realistic. Most errors in this field are not the Press's. They are a spelling carried through from an affidavit, or an address copied from an old document, or a father's name typed as the family says it rather than as his own papers spell it. If that is your case, the money is spent and the useful question is how to fix it, not whose fault it was.
What a corrigendum does, and what it does not do
A corrigendum corrects. It does not erase. The original notification remains in the Gazette, and the corrigendum sits alongside it as a published correction. Anybody searching the record in future will find both.
That is by design rather than by oversight. Gazette publication is a public record by design; the change becomes a matter of public record to ensure legal transparency and administrative accountability, and confidentiality cannot be requested under normal provisions.
So there is no unpublishing. You cannot withdraw a notification, have it removed from the portal, or ask for it to be made private. If you have published something you wish you had not, a corrigendum is the only instrument, and it adds to the record rather than replacing it.
Which is the strongest possible argument for checking before you file. Every page on this website tells you to read the affidavit before swearing it, the newspaper text before it prints, and the proforma before you sign. This is why. A mistake at any of those points is free to fix. The same mistake after publication is permanent, even when corrected.
How to apply for a corrigendum
- Download the published gazette from the e-Gazette portal and print it.
- Find your photocopy of the original submission. If you do not have one, ask whoever prepared the file for you.
- Compare the two and identify precisely what differs, and where the error originated.
- Prepare the corrigendum matter, with the English and Hindi versions typed on separate sheets.
- Prepare two fresh copies of each set, complying with the Department's formatting guidelines, and a new soft copy.
- Where the error was yours, deposit the applicable charge through the Non Tax Receipts Portal at bharatkosh.gov.in. NEFT is the Department's own stated fallback if NTRP itself has a payment issue.
- Submit with the published gazette copy and the photocopy of the original submission.
- Allow time for review. Rectification is subject to departmental approval, and consultancies commonly report 25 to 45 working days as a practical estimate. The Department does not publish a fixed processing timeline, so treat this as an estimate, not a guarantee.
If the six months have passed
This is the situation people arrive in most often, because a gazette error is usually discovered when somebody else spots it, and that is rarely within six months.
Do not assume the ordinary corrigendum route is available. The Department's guidelines state the six-month window plainly. Ask, by all means, and ask in writing, but plan on the alternative.
The realistic options
- A fresh notification. A new application, with a new affidavit and fresh newspaper advertisements, correctly worded this time. It costs what it costs, and it produces a correct record going forward.
- Live with it and explain it. Where the error is minor and the institutions you deal with have accepted the notification anyway, a fresh publication may be an expensive solution to a problem nobody has. Ask the institution first.
- An affidavit alongside. Where the published notification and your other documents differ in a small way, a properly drafted affidavit stating that both refer to one and the same person will often carry you through a verification, at a fraction of the cost.
Ask the question we ask on every page in this series before spending. Has anybody actually refused your gazette because of the error, or are you fixing something nobody has objected to? Those have very different answers.
A warning about who you call
If you search for the gazette office to ask about a correction, be careful whose number you dial. We have found well-ranked pages that print the Department of Publication's genuine address, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, and then give a private mobile number beneath it as though it were the office's own telephone. The same mobile number turns up on pages naming several different states, which tells you what it actually is.
This matters for a corrigendum specifically because you may be calling under pressure, with a deadline running. Confirm you have reached the Department of Publication itself, at Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, before you act on anything you are told over the phone.
How to never need this page
Since a published error is permanent even when corrected, the checks that prevent one are worth more than anything else here.
- Write the exact final name, in block letters, on one piece of paper. Give that paper to everyone who types anything for you.
- Read the affidavit before you swear it. Check the name, the parentage, the address and the spelling of every one of them.
- Check the address matches your identity proof exactly. This is a common cause of both rejection and error.
- Read the newspaper proof before it prints. This one is free and it is the most commonly skipped.
- Read the proforma before you sign it, and check it against the affidavit word for word.
- Check the soft copy matches the hard copy, since you are certifying that they do.
- Photocopy the entire file before you send it, and keep it.
- When the notification publishes, read it that week rather than in six months.
That last one is the cheapest insurance available. Download the gazette the day it appears and read it properly. If something is wrong, you then have the full six months rather than discovering the problem at a passport office two years later.
Cost and timeline
Where the Government of India Press made the error, no charges are applicable on the Department's stated position. Where the error was in your own application, an amount as per existing charges must be deposited, along with fresh sets of the corrigendum.
Be careful with any rupee figure you read for this, including on this page. The Department's published corrigendum guideline, with its detailed fee schedule, sits under Part III Section IV of the Gazette. Personal name changes publish under Part IV, whose own guideline documents do not carry a separate corrigendum fee figure. Confirm the current Part IV corrigendum charge directly with the Department, at Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, rather than apply a rate quoted for a different part or section.
For an original Central Gazette notification rather than a corrigendum, the fee is commonly Rs 1,100 for an adult, revised by the Department of Publication each financial year, and that figure itself is a separate matter from any corrigendum charge.
| Stage | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Processing | Subject to departmental approval. No fixed timeline is published by the Department; 25 to 45 working days is a practical estimate commonly reported, not a guarantee |
| Payment channel | Non Tax Receipts Portal, bharatkosh.gov.in. NEFT is the Department's own stated fallback if NTRP itself has a payment issue |
| Signatures | Original ink, on the declaration and cover letter. Scanned or digital signatures are not accepted on the published procedure |
Where can we help with a gazette correction?
Across India, filing to a single Central office at Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, whichever state you applied from.
One Central Gazette office
Personal name change corrigenda go to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, regardless of which state you live or filed in.
Working out whose error it was
The comparison between your submission and the published copy, which decides whether the correction is free.
Preparing the corrigendum correctly
English and Hindi sets on separate sheets, in the Department's required formatting, with original ink signatures.
Confirming the current position
Checking the Part IV charge and processing expectation with the Department directly, rather than reusing a figure from elsewhere.
What do the terms on this page mean?
Twelve definitions, each written to stand on its own.
- Corrigendum
- The Department of Publication's mechanism for correcting a mistake in a notification already published in the Gazette of India, applied for within six months of the original publication.
- Gazette of India
- The official Government journal in which statutory and personal notifications, including name changes, are published, giving them public legal effect.
- Part IV
- The section of the Gazette of India where personal notices, including a name correction or change, are published. A State Gazette has its own separate numbering.
- Part III Section IV
- A different, separately numbered section of the Gazette, where the Department's detailed corrigendum guideline is currently published. Its fee schedule does not automatically apply to a Part IV personal notification.
- Government of India Press
- The Government printer responsible for typesetting and printing the Gazette. A printing or typographical error made at this stage carries no charge on the Department's stated position.
- BharatKosh
- The Non-Tax Receipt Portal, bharatkosh.gov.in, the Department's primary channel for Gazette-related payments, with NEFT available as a stated fallback if a payment through it fails.
- Corrigendum matter
- The corrected text itself, submitted as part of a corrigendum application, typed as separate English and Hindi sheets under the Department's formatting rule.
- e-Gazette portal
- egazette.gov.in, where a published Gazette notification can be downloaded and printed free of charge, without needing a certified copy.
- Department of Publication
- The Central Government body, under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, that publishes the Gazette of India and administers the corrigendum process.
- Civil Lines, Delhi 110054
- The address of the one Central Gazette office. Any other city quoting this pin code alongside its own name is not the Department of Publication.
- Affidavit
- A sworn written statement, used elsewhere in the Gazette process, but not itself the corrigendum instrument once a notification has already been published.
- Section 15, RBD Act, 1969
- The correction route for a birth certificate mistake, made through the issuing municipal Registrar. A separate process entirely from a Gazette corrigendum.
Do you need help with a corrigendum?
For gathering the papers, often yes. For deciding whose error it was, the comparison itself is not hard once you have both documents.
| Your situation | Do it yourself? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You have the photocopy of your submission and the published copy | Yes, the comparison | Line-by-line, most people can tell which situation they are in within minutes |
| You never kept a photocopy of what you submitted | Get advice | Proving a Press error without it is much harder, and the six-month clock keeps running |
| The error was clearly yours, and you accept that | Yes, with correct formatting | Separate English and Hindi sheets, fresh copies and ink signatures are mechanical requirements |
| Six months have already passed | Get advice | Deciding between a fresh notification, an affidavit alongside, or leaving it alone needs judgement |
| You are unsure whether the Part IV fee matches what you are quoted | Confirm directly | The published fee schedule sits under a different part of the Gazette |
Your Trust and Security First
Your documents stay private
Handled by our own desk in Burari, Delhi, used for your file and nothing else.
We tell you honestly whose error it was
The comparison decides the fee. We do not guess in your favour to win the file.
We confirm the Part IV position
Rather than quoting a fee or timeline sourced from a different part of the Gazette.
We prepare the paperwork correctly
Separate English and Hindi sheets, fresh sets, and the formatting the Department requires.
We tell you when six months have passed
And what your realistic options actually are, without pretending the ordinary route is still open.
We warn you about the fake number
A private mobile printed beneath the Department's real address on more than one competitor page.
Everything You Need, In One Place
Working out whose error it was
The comparison between your submission and the published notification, done properly.
Preparing the corrigendum matter
English and Hindi sets on separate sheets, formatted the way the Department requires.
Confirming the current Part IV position
Fee and processing expectation checked directly rather than assumed from another part of the Gazette.
Fresh sets and payment through BharatKosh
Two fresh copies of each language, a new soft copy, and payment through the correct portal.
Advice when six months have passed
An honest recommendation between a fresh notification, an affidavit alongside, or leaving it alone.
Ordinary Gazette and name change filing
Where you are starting fresh rather than correcting an existing notification. See our gazette office in Delhi guide.
How It Works
Send us the published gazette
And your photocopy of the original submission, if you have one.
We tell you whose error it was, and what it will cost
Confirmed against the current Part IV position, not an assumed figure.
You file once, correctly
Formatted, signed in ink, and submitted with everything the Department asks for.
The questions people search about correcting a published gazette
Can a corrigendum be requested by phone or email?
The published procedure describes a physical submission with original ink signatures, photocopies and fresh sets. Treat a phone or email request as the first step, not the filing itself.
My gazette has the wrong father's name, not a spelling mistake in my own name. Is this the same process?
Yes, if the notification has already been published, a corrigendum is still the mechanism. If you have not yet filed and are correcting the underlying record, see our father's name correction guide instead.
What if the mistake is actually a spelling issue that has not gone to gazette yet?
Then you may not need a gazette at all. See our name spelling correction guide before you file anything.
Does a corrigendum reopen the six-month window for a further correction?
The Department's guidelines describe the window running from the date of publication of the notification. Ask the Department directly whether a corrigendum itself counts as a fresh publication date for this purpose before assuming either way.
What should I ask a service before paying for a corrigendum?
Whether the error was theirs, and if it was, whether they are charging you to fix their own mistake.
Tell us what is wrong before you assume anything about the cost
Talk to the desk
Phone: 9540005002
WhatsApp: 9540005064
Email: support@documentadvisor.in
Hours: Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 6 PM
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Frequently asked questions
My published gazette has a mistake. Can it be corrected?
Yes, through a corrigendum. The Department's guidelines provide for one, and it must be applied for within six months from the date of publication.
What is the deadline?
Six months from the date of publication of the notification in the Gazette of India. That is a hard window and it is rarely mentioned anywhere else.
What do I need to produce?
Both the published copy of the Gazette notification and a photocopy of the notification you originally submitted to the Department. The second one is what most applicants no longer have.
Do I have to pay?
It depends on whose error it was. If a printing or typographical error occurred on the part of the Government of India Press, no charges are applicable on the Department's stated position. If the error was on your part, an amount as per existing charges must be deposited.
How do I tell whose error it was?
Put the published gazette beside the photocopy of your submission and compare them. If they differ, the error is the Press's. If the gazette faithfully reproduces what you sent, the error is yours.
What does a corrigendum application consist of?
Fresh sets of the corrigendum, being two fresh copies of the English and Hindi sets of the notification complying with the guidelines, plus a new soft copy. The English and Hindi matter must be typed on separate sheets.
How do I pay?
Through the Non Tax Receipts Portal, bharatkosh.gov.in. The Department's own guidance also allows NEFT as a fallback if a payment through NTRP itself runs into an issue.
What will it cost?
Confirm with the Department. The published corrigendum procedure and fee schedule sit under Part III Section IV of the Gazette, and personal name changes publish under Part IV, whose own guideline documents do not carry a separate corrigendum fee figure, so a figure quoted for another section should not be assumed to apply.
How long does it take?
Rectification is subject to departmental approval. The Department does not publish a fixed timeline; 25 to 45 working days is a practical estimate commonly reported, not a guarantee.
Will the wrong version disappear?
No. A corrigendum corrects; it does not erase. The original notification stays in the record and the corrigendum sits alongside it.
Can I have my notification withdrawn or made private?
No. Gazette publication is a public record by design, to ensure legal transparency and administrative accountability, and confidentiality cannot be requested under normal provisions.
The six months have passed. What now?
The ordinary corrigendum route may not be available. Ask in writing, but plan on either a fresh notification, or an affidavit alongside the existing one explaining that both refer to the same person, or simply living with a minor error nobody has objected to.
Should I publish afresh?
Only if somebody has actually refused the existing notification, or the error is substantial. A fresh publication is an expensive answer to a problem nobody has raised.
Can I sign the corrigendum application digitally?
No. On the published procedure, original ink signatures are mandatory on the declaration and cover letter, and digitally signed or scanned signatures are not accepted.
What if my application was rejected rather than wrongly published?
That is a different situation from a corrigendum. The Department's guidelines confirm it reserves the right to reject an incomplete, vague, unlawful or misleading request; a corrigendum instead corrects a notification that has already been published and accepted.
Where do personal name changes appear in the Gazette?
Part IV of the Gazette of India. The detailed corrigendum procedure on this page is published by the Department under its separate Part III Section IV guidelines, since Part IV's own guideline documents do not carry their own corrigendum clause.
How do I get the published copy?
Download it free from the e-Gazette portal and print it. You do not need a certified copy.
Whose phone number should I call?
The Department's own published numbers, including its line for change of name and public notice enquiries. Be careful of pages that print the Department's genuine address with a private mobile number beneath it.
Is a birth certificate mistake corrected the same way?
No. That is a Registrar correction under Section 15 of the RBD Act, 1969, made through the issuing municipal body, not a corrigendum to a Gazette notification.
How do I avoid ever needing this?
Read the affidavit before swearing it, the newspaper proof before it prints and the proforma before signing, keep a photocopy of the whole file, and read the published gazette the week it appears rather than years later.
What should I ask a service before paying for a corrigendum?
Whether the error was theirs, and if it was, whether they are charging you to fix their own mistake.
Where can you verify all of this yourself?
Start with the Department's own guideline documents, since the fee and timeline depend on which part of the Gazette applies to you.
- Department of Publication, Government of IndiaThe nodal office for the Gazette of India, its address and its published guideline documents.
- e-Gazette, the Gazette of India portalFree download of any published notification, including the copy you need for a corrigendum.
- BharatKosh, Non Tax Receipts PortalThe Department's primary payment channel for Gazette-related fees.
- Ministry of Housing and Urban AffairsThe nodal ministry for the Department of Publication and the Non Tax Receipts Portal order.
- Documentadvisor: Gazette Office in DelhiThe Department's own verified address and contact numbers, for the ordinary Gazette process.
- Documentadvisor: Affidavit for Name ChangeThe affidavit format this record update is built on: who can attest it, and what it should say.
- Documentadvisor: Name Change Newspaper AdvertisementThe newspaper notice format and cost, where the underlying change goes through a Gazette.
- Documentadvisor: Name Change After MarriageName change after marriage, and which records need updating first.
- Documentadvisor: Name Change in PAN CardUpdating PAN, commonly done alongside Aadhaar and bank records.
In short
Everything on this page in twelve lines
- A corrigendum corrects a published gazette. It does not erase the original entry, which stays in the record permanently.
- You have six months from the date of publication. On the Department's own guidelines, that window does not reopen.
- Keep a photocopy of everything you submit, before you send it, not after.
- Whose error it was decides the cost. A Government of India Press mistake is free to fix. Your own error is not.
- This detailed procedure is published under Part III Section IV, not Part IV, where personal name changes actually appear. Confirm the Part IV position directly.
- Original ink signatures are required. Scanned or digital signatures are not accepted on this procedure.
- English and Hindi sets go on separate sheets, a formatting rule that is easy to miss.
- Payment goes through BharatKosh, with NEFT as the Department's own stated fallback.
- There is no fixed published processing timeline. Treat any day-count you read, including on this page, as an estimate.
- There is no unpublishing a gazette. Confidentiality cannot be requested under normal provisions.
- Watch the phone number you dial. A private mobile has been found printed beneath the Department's genuine address on more than one page.
- The free checks matter more than the paid fix. Reading the affidavit, the newspaper proof and the proforma before publication costs nothing.
Tell us what is wrong before you assume anything about the cost.
We compare your submission against the published notification, tell you honestly whose error it was, and confirm the current Part IV position before preparing anything.