Bihar Board Certificate Name Correction for Jharkhand Residents
Anybody who passed matric or intermediate in what is now Jharkhand before the State had its own board holds a certificate from a Bihar body, and that creates a problem nobody explains. The Jharkhand Academic Council Act, printed as "The Jharkhand Academic Council Act, 2001" and enacted as Act 2 of 2003, repealed the "Bihar School Examination Board Act, 1952 (Bihar Act 7 of 1952)" and the "Bihar Intermediate Education Council Act, 1992 (Bihar Act 26 of 1992)" for Jharkhand. So in Jharkhand those two Acts no longer apply. But your certificate still carries the name of the Bihar body that issued it, and in the provisions we read, the Act does not say that the Bihar records were handed to the Jharkhand Academic Council. So do not assume that JAC can correct a Bihar Board certificate. And for most people who passed decades ago, the realistic answer is not to change the old certificate at all. It is usually to treat it as the record everything else has to match, or to link it to your present name.
Read the name printed at the top of your certificate before anything else, because that board is the only body that can correct it. A matric certificate from before Jharkhand had its own board usually carries the name of the Bihar School Examination Board. That board is "a statutory body under section 3 of the Bihar School Examination Act - 1952", headquartered in Patna. An older intermediate certificate may carry the name of the Bihar Intermediate Education Council, a separate body under its own 1992 Act. Second, understand what changed in 2003 and what did not. JAC's own page says its Act was "assented to by honorable Governor of the State on 26.02.2003 and notified by the government on 04.03.2003". Section 30 of that Act repeals both Bihar board Acts for Jharkhand. Section 29 keeps earlier actions valid: "any thing done or any action taken in exercise of any power conferred by or under the said Act shall be deemed to have been done or taken in exercise of power conferred by or under this Act". So your old certificate remains a valid record. What we did not find is any provision saying that the Bihar records were handed to JAC. So ask JAC in writing before assuming it will correct a Bihar certificate, and expect a correction to mean dealing with the Bihar board in Patna. Third, ask whether you need to correct it at all. For somebody who passed twenty or thirty years ago, the old certificate is usually the oldest record they hold. It is normally the one the others should be made to match, not the one to change. Where it genuinely carries a wrong spelling, a public notice for a wrongly written name linking it to your correct name is often more realistic than a correction from another State's board. We publish those notices, so treat that as our interest declared. We print no Bihar Board fee or timeline, because the board's portal would not open for us.
Which Board Issued Your Certificate: Bihar Board, Bihar Intermediate Council or JAC
People in Jharkhand often talk about their old certificate as if the State board issued it, because the school was in Ranchi, Dhanbad or Dumka. But the board is decided by when you passed, not by where the school is today. Jharkhand became a separate State in November 2000, and its own academic council came later still. Anybody who passed before that holds a certificate from a Bihar body.
There were two Bihar bodies, not one, and that matters more than people expect. The Jharkhand Academic Council Act names both of them in its repeal section: the "Bihar School Examination Board Act, 1952 (Bihar Act 7 of 1952)" and the "Bihar Intermediate Education Council Act, 1992 (Bihar Act 26 of 1992)". So a matric certificate and an intermediate certificate from the same years may have come from two different bodies.
| The name printed on your certificate | What that tells you |
|---|---|
| Bihar School Examination Board | The Bihar matric board. It is "a statutory body under section 3 of the Bihar School Examination Act - 1952", headquartered in Patna. This page is mainly about this case |
| Bihar Intermediate Education Council | A separate Bihar body for intermediate examinations, set up under its own 1992 Act. Do not assume the matric route applies to it; ask which office holds its records today |
| Jharkhand Academic Council | A Jharkhand certificate, and a different page. See JAC certificate correction and JAC correction after many years |
| A CBSE or ICSE board | A central board, and its own route. See CBSE and ICSE correction |
| You cannot read it, or you have lost it | Find out which board and which year first. Everything else depends on it, including whether a duplicate is the real first step |
What the Jharkhand Academic Council Act Says About Bihar Board Certificates
This is the part nobody writing about this subject has read, and it answers the question people are most anxious about: is my old Bihar certificate still valid in Jharkhand?
Start with when the Act came in. JAC's own page says the Act was "assented to by honorable Governor of the State on 26.02.2003 and notified by the government on 04.03.2003". There is a small puzzle in the name. JAC's page calls it the "Jharkhand Academic Council Act 2002", while the printed copy of the Act we read calls itself "The Jharkhand Academic Council Act, 2001", enacted as Act 2 of 2003. We are reporting both rather than choosing, because the substance that follows is the same whichever year the title carries.
Section 30 is the repeal. It reads that "The Bihar Intermediate Education Council Act, 1992 (Bihar Act 26 of 1992). Bihar School Examination Board Act, 1952 (Bihar Act 7 of 1952)...are here by repealed." So in Jharkhand, those two Bihar Acts no longer apply.
Section 29 is what protects you. It keeps the rules and regulations made under those Bihar Acts in force until replaced. It also provides that "any thing done or any action taken in exercise of any power conferred by or under the said Act shall be deemed to have been done or taken in exercise of power conferred by or under this Act". That is the legal machinery that keeps earlier actions valid after the repeal. An examination held and a certificate issued under the old Bihar Act do not become worthless because the Act was later repealed in Jharkhand.
| The question | What the Act says, as far as we read it |
|---|---|
| Do the Bihar board Acts still apply in Jharkhand? | No. Section 30 repeals both of them for Jharkhand |
| Is my old certificate still valid? | Section 29 keeps earlier actions valid, treating anything done under the old Act as done under the new one |
| Do the old Bihar rules still apply? | Section 29 keeps them in force until they are replaced under the new Act |
| Were the Bihar records transferred to JAC? | We found no provision saying so. We do not assume it, and neither should you |
| Will JAC correct a Bihar certificate? | The Act does not say so in what we read. Ask JAC in writing before relying on it |
Correcting a Bihar School Examination Board Certificate From Jharkhand
If your certificate genuinely has to be corrected at the source, the source is the Bihar School Examination Board. It is "a statutory body under section 3 of the Bihar School Examination Act - 1952", headquartered in Patna. That much we can state.
What we cannot state is the board's current correction procedure, and we are going to say so plainly rather than fill the gap. We tried both the board's official portal and an application document published on it, and neither would open for us while we were writing this page. So we print no correction form, no list of documents, no fee and no timeline. The figures on the private websites that come up for this search are not something we are willing to repeat, because none of the ones we checked pointed to an official notice.
There is one thing we can say with confidence, because it follows from how any board correction works. A board corrects a certificate against its own record, not against your present documents. The record is usually the entry made from your school's forwarded details at the time of the examination. So if the school sent your name to the board with the spelling that is now on your certificate, the board's record agrees with the certificate, and a correction becomes much harder, because on the board's own papers nothing was typed wrongly. That is exactly the situation in which the next two sections matter more than a correction does.
| The question | What we can and cannot say |
|---|---|
| Who can correct it? | The board that issued it. For a Bihar matric certificate, the Bihar School Examination Board in Patna |
| What is the procedure? | We could not verify it. The board's portal and its published application document both refused our reader |
| What does it cost? | We print no figure. Ask the board in writing |
| How long does it take? | We print no figure, for the same reason |
| What decides whether it is possible? | Whether the board's own record carries the error. If the school sent your name to the board wrongly, the board's record agrees with the wrong certificate |
Your Old Bihar Board Certificate as the Anchor for Every Other Record
Most people arrive wanting to change the old certificate so that it matches their Aadhaar, their PAN or their service record. For most people who passed decades ago, that is the wrong way round.
Think about what each document is. The Bihar Board certificate was written first, from a record made when you were a schoolchild, long before your Aadhaar or your PAN existed. Every later document should have copied from something, and very often it copied badly: an operator abbreviating, a clerk transliterating from Hindi, an initial expanded or a title added. When the old certificate and a new document disagree, the new document is much more often the one that drifted.
| The situation | What to change |
|---|---|
| The old certificate carries the spelling you use and your family recognises | Nothing on the certificate. Correct the Aadhaar, PAN or bank record to match it. The commonest case, and the cheapest |
| The old certificate has a plain typing error the board's own record does not share | A board correction may be possible. Ask the board in writing whether it corrects certificates of your year |
| The school sent the wrong spelling to the board, so the record agrees with the certificate | A correction is unlikely. A public notice linking the wrong spelling to the right one is usually the realistic route |
| You genuinely changed your name since, for example after marriage | The certificate stays in the old name and should. Link the two names instead. See name change after marriage |
| The date of birth is the problem, not the name | A different subject with stricter rules. See date of birth correction |
Linking an Old Bihar Board Certificate Instead of Correcting It
Where the old certificate carries a spelling you do not use, and correcting it at the Bihar board is impractical or impossible, the answer is usually to leave the certificate as it is and publish a document that ties its spelling to your correct name. The certificate goes on saying what it says. The linking document tells every office reading it that the two spellings are one person.
There are three such documents, and they are not equal:
| The linking document | When it is the right one |
|---|---|
| A one and the same person affidavit | The cheapest, and accepted by many banks, employers and colleges. Often refused by recruitment panels and passport offices, which want something published. See the affidavit page |
| A public notice for a wrongly written name, in the Gazette of India | The right instrument when a spelling was simply written wrongly and never changed. It quotes the wrong spelling exactly as printed and states the correct one. See public notice for a wrongly written name |
| A change of name notice in the Gazette of India | Only where you genuinely changed your name, not where a board wrote it wrongly. Using the change of name form for a spelling error declares a change you never made |
| Comparing the three | See affidavit against newspaper against gazette for which office accepts which |
One more point that saves a great deal of money. If several family members' old certificates carry the same wrongly written family name, for example because one school sent every child's surname to the board with the same error, a single notice can often cover them together instead of one each. See one public notice for several certificates.
How to Deal With a Name Problem on an Old Bihar Board Certificate
Read which board is printed on the certificate
The Bihar School Examination Board, the Bihar Intermediate Education Council, or the Jharkhand Academic Council. Only the issuing body can correct its own record.
Decide whether the old certificate is actually right
If it carries the spelling you use and your family recognises, leave it alone and correct the newer documents to match it. This is the commonest outcome and the cheapest.
If a newer record drifted, correct that record instead
Aadhaar, PAN, bank, service book. Each is far easier to change than a certificate held by another State's board. See Aadhaar name change.
If the certificate itself is wrong, work out whether the board's record is too
Usually through the school's copy of what it sent the board. If the school sent the wrong spelling, the board's record agrees with the certificate, and a correction becomes unlikely.
Write to JAC before assuming it can help with a Bihar certificate
The JAC Act repealed the Bihar board Acts for Jharkhand, but we found no provision transferring the Bihar records to JAC. Ask in writing whether it will act on your certificate.
Ask the Bihar board, in writing, whether it corrects certificates of your year
And what proof, charge and attendance it needs. We could not verify its current procedure, so its written answer is the only reliable one.
If a correction is not realistic, link the certificate instead
An affidavit for offices that accept one, or a public notice for a wrongly written name where something published is needed. Never the change of name form for a spelling error.
Check whether family members share the same error
If one school sent several children's surname wrongly, one notice may cover them together. See one notice for several certificates.
Settle the father's name in the same pass
An old certificate usually carries it, and a panel reads it as closely as yours. A mismatch there is a separate rejection reason. See father's name spelling mismatch.
Keep the original certificate safe, and keep every reply
A certificate from decades ago may be hard to replace. Photocopy it, keep the original out of any file that will not be returned, and keep every written answer from each board.
Central Gazette Process for a Name From Jharkhand, and Where It Fits an Old Board Certificate
No district in Jharkhand has a gazette counter, so a genuine file goes from Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Hazaribagh, Deoghar or anywhere else in the state to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, and the notice publishes in Part IV of the Gazette of India. As reported in July 2025 the Finance Department stopped personal name change notifications from the Jharkhand Government Press with immediate effect, so there is no state alternative to fall back on.
The Eight Steps of a Name File Sent From Jharkhand
Settle the final name first
Letter by letter, with the spacing you want, and then use exactly that everywhere, Aadhaar included. A corrigendum after publication is a second fee and a second wait.
Pick the category, then its proforma
A genuine change of name is change of Name Adult or Major. A wrongly typed spelling is the public notice for a wrongly written name. Twelve categories exist and only one is yours.
Type the proforma in duplicate
Two originals with two witnesses giving signature, full name, address and mobile number on both copies. A change of name is signed in the old name; a public notice is signed in your own name.
Fill the employment field if it is a change of name
The adult proforma asks for the post of the applicant and the office or company name. A student or a homemaker should still complete it rather than leaving it blank, because a blank field brings the file back.
Publish and keep the original paper
One of the daily local leading newspapers, carrying both names in full, the father or husband name and the residential address. The whole original paper goes in the file, not a cutting.
Pay only through BharatKosh
The Non Tax Receipt Portal and nowhere else since October 2018. Select the Department of Publication by name, read the amount the portal shows on the day, pay in your own name and print the e-receipt.
Check every date, then post it yourself
Nothing in the file older than one year. Personally or by post or courier only, never through an agent or advocate. Photocopy everything first, because nothing sent in comes back.
Read the notice, then update in the right order
Check every word the day it publishes, download the e-Gazette copy, and then update the Aadhaar first, because the system leverages it for unique identification, and let the bank account, the voter entry and any scheme records follow after it in that order. The old certificate itself is never altered; the notice sits beside it as the link every office can read.
The Five Papers in the File, and What Is Checked in Each
| The paper | What is checked in it, clause by clause |
|---|---|
| 1. The proforma, in duplicate | That it is the right category format; the existing full name exactly as your documents carry it; the new full name exactly as settled; the father or husband name; the full address with pin code; the post and office or company name where it is a change of name; the signature in the right name for the category; two witnesses complete with signature, full name, address and mobile number |
| 2. The affidavit or undertaking | The same names and address as the proforma, word for word, with wording matching the category. On Rs 100 non-judicial stamp paper as our safe default |
| 3. The original newspaper | The original paper, not a cutting; the paper name and date of publication visible; both names carried; the father or husband name and residential address; dated within the last year |
| 4. Photographs, identity proof and any category paper | Two self attested passport photographs; self attested identity and address proof matching the proforma address; both witnesses proofs; and, in a public notice file, the attested photocopy of the connected document carrying the error |
| 5. The CD, its certificate and the BharatKosh receipt | MS Word, without the witness portion, with the name typed in place of the signature; the certificate that the hard copy and the soft copy are the same; the forwarding letter to the Controller of Publication with a telephone number and email; the e-receipt |
The posting detail is on the sending the file to Delhi page, the change of name wording on the proforma format page and the public notice wording on the public notice proforma page, the charge by category on the fee and undertaking page, the reasons files come back on the rejection reasons page, and the download on the download page.
What Fixing a Name on an Old Bihar Board Certificate Costs
The good news is that the most common outcome here costs very little, because the old certificate is usually right and the newer documents are what need correcting. Here is what we can and cannot tell you about each item.
| Item | What we can and cannot tell you |
|---|---|
| Leaving the old certificate alone | Nothing, and very often the right answer. The cost moves to correcting a newer record instead |
| Correcting your Aadhaar or PAN to match the certificate | The usual real spend, set by those offices. See Aadhaar name change |
| A correction by the Bihar School Examination Board | We print no figure. The board's portal and published application document both refused our reader. Ask the board in writing, and expect travel to Patna if it wants you in person |
| A one and the same person affidavit | The stamp paper and notary charges, which vary. Useful where the office will accept it |
| A public notice for a wrongly written name | Charged by category, paid only through BharatKosh, revised each financial year, never refunded. See the public notice fee page |
| One notice for several family members | Often cheaper than one each, where the same error runs through the family's certificates |
| What we charge | Quoted on the call once we have seen the certificate and your newer documents. If the answer is that your old certificate is fine and only your Aadhaar needs correcting, we will say so and charge you nothing |
Myths About Old Bihar Board Certificates in Jharkhand
| What people believe | What is actually so |
|---|---|
| My old Bihar certificate is invalid now that Jharkhand has its own board | Section 29 of the JAC Act keeps earlier actions valid, treating anything done under the old Act as done under the new one |
| JAC can correct my Bihar Board certificate | We found no provision transferring the Bihar records to JAC. Ask JAC in writing before relying on it |
| A Jharkhand office can correct it for me | Only the issuing board can correct its own record. A Jharkhand office has no power over a Bihar record |
| The old certificate should be changed to match my Aadhaar | Usually the other way round. The old certificate came first, and newer documents are the ones that drift |
| Matric and intermediate certificates come from the same Bihar body | Two bodies are named in the JAC Act's repeal section, one under a 1952 Act and one under a 1992 Act |
| The Bihar board will correct any certificate if I pay | A board corrects against its own record. If the school sent the wrong spelling, the record agrees with the certificate |
| The change of name Gazette form will fix a spelling error | It declares a change you never made. A wrongly written name takes the public notice |
| Every family member needs a separate notice | Where the same error runs through several certificates, one notice can often cover them |
| An affidavit works everywhere | Many banks and employers accept one; many recruitment panels and passport offices want something published |
| The fee and timeline on that website are official | We checked several and none cited an official notice. Ask the board in writing |
| The old certificate can go into the file, it will come back | Keep the original out of any file that will not be returned. A certificate from decades ago is hard to replace |
Key Terms for Bihar Board Certificates Held in Jharkhand
| Term | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Bihar School Examination Board | The Bihar matric board, a statutory body under the Bihar School Examination Act 1952, headquartered in Patna |
| Bihar Intermediate Education Council | A separate Bihar body for intermediate examinations, under its own 1992 Act |
| Jharkhand Academic Council | Jharkhand's own board, set up by an Act notified on 4 March 2003 |
| Repeal | What section 30 of the JAC Act did to the two Bihar board Acts, for Jharkhand |
| Savings clause | What section 29 does: it keeps earlier actions and rules valid after the repeal |
| Board record | The entry the board made from the school's details. A correction is made against it, not against your present papers |
| Anchor record | Your oldest document. For many older adults, the Bihar Board certificate itself |
| Wrongly written name | A spelling recorded wrongly and never changed. Takes the public notice, not the change of name form |
| Public notice | The Gazette instrument that quotes the wrong spelling exactly and states the correct one |
| One and the same person affidavit | A sworn statement that two spellings are one person. Accepted by many offices, not all |
| Linking | Leaving the old certificate as it is and publishing a document that ties it to your correct name |
| Written reply | The most useful thing either board can give you. Ask for one on every question |
Old Bihar Board Certificate Help Across Jharkhand
Most of our work on old Bihar Board certificates is telling people they do not need to change them. We read the old certificate next to your Aadhaar, PAN and service record and tell you which one is actually right. For somebody who passed decades ago, it is usually the old certificate, and the fix is a newer record corrected to match it. Where the old certificate itself carries a spelling you do not use, we work out whether the board's own record shares the error, which decides whether a correction is realistic at all. Where it is not, we prepare the wrongly written name notice properly, and we check whether one notice can cover several family members. What we will not do is quote you a Bihar board fee or timeline we could not verify, or file the change of name form for a spelling a board wrote wrongly. We help people across Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Hazaribagh, Deoghar and every other district, on scans over WhatsApp.
District pages are linked from the services page.
Send the old certificate and your newer documents
Send a clear photograph of the old certificate first, top to bottom, so we can read which board issued it and in which year. Then send your Aadhaar, your PAN and anything else carrying your name, such as a service record or a bank passbook. Add whatever the office, panel or employer has put in writing, and, if other family members have old certificates with the same surname, a photograph of those too. Tell us in one line which spelling you actually use, because for somebody who passed decades ago that one answer often settles the whole thing. Our first reply tells you whether the old certificate is right and a newer record drifted, whether a board correction is realistic, or whether a notice is genuinely the route. If the answer is that only your Aadhaar needs correcting, we will tell you that and charge you nothing. Details on the contact page.
- 📞Call 9540005002
Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 6 PM - WhatsApp 9540005064
Send your scans here, it is the fastest way - ✉️info@jharkhandnamechange.com
- 📍Ranchi office: Main Building, Near Shaheed Chowk, Ranchi, Jharkhand 834001
- 🏛️Head office (Gazette filing desk): Metro Pillar No. 377, Near Burari Metro Station, Shop No. B-1, Ground Floor, Gali No. 1, Khasra No. 31/12, Hardev Nagar, Jharoda Majra, Burari, Delhi 110084
Bihar Board Certificate Name Correction in Jharkhand: Frequently Asked Questions
Is my old Bihar Board certificate still valid in Jharkhand?
Can the Jharkhand Academic Council correct my Bihar Board certificate?
How do I correct a Bihar Board certificate?
Should I change the old certificate to match my Aadhaar?
My matric and intermediate certificates were issued by different bodies. Is that normal?
The school sent my name to the board wrongly. Can the board fix it?
Do I need a gazette notification?
Will an affidavit be enough?
Several of us in the family have the same wrong surname on old certificates. What now?
I have lost my old Bihar Board certificate. Where do I start?
Does my father's name on the old certificate matter?
How much of this can you actually do for us?
Official Sources on Bihar Board and JAC Certificates
| Source | What it is used for on this page |
|---|---|
| The Jharkhand Academic Council Act, as published by PRS Legislative Research | The most important link on this page. The short title as printed, "The Jharkhand Academic Council Act, 2001", enacted as Act 2 of 2003; section 30, repealing the Bihar Intermediate Education Council Act 1992 and the Bihar School Examination Board Act 1952 for Jharkhand; and section 29, the savings clause keeping earlier rules and actions valid |
| Jharkhand Academic Council, About JAC | That the Act was "assented to by honorable Governor of the State on 26.02.2003 and notified by the government on 04.03.2003", and that JAC calls it the "Jharkhand Academic Council Act 2002" |
| Bihar School Examination Board, reference entry | That the board is "a statutory body under section 3 of the Bihar School Examination Act - 1952", headquartered in Patna. A general reference entry, used because the board's own site would not open |
| Where the sources disagree | The Act's title year. The printed Act says 2001; JAC's page says 2002; it was notified in 2003. We report all three and choose none |
| What we could not verify | The Bihar board's correction and duplicate procedures, fees and timelines, because its portal and its published application document refused our reader; whether the Bihar records passed to JAC, on which we found no provision; and whether JAC will act on a Bihar certificate, which only JAC can answer |
| Our other pages on the neighbouring cases | JAC certificates, on JAC certificate correction and JAC correction after many years; the notice itself, on the public notice page |
| The Bihar board, JAC, and the office objecting to your certificate | The three sources that outrank this page. The Bihar board on whether it corrects certificates of your year, JAC on whether it will act on a Bihar certificate, and the objecting office on what it will accept. Ask all three in writing |
Old Bihar Board Certificates in Jharkhand in Nine Lines
The short version
- Only the board that issued a certificate can correct it.
- The JAC Act repealed both Bihar board Acts for Jharkhand.
- Its savings clause keeps your old certificate valid.
- We found no provision moving the Bihar records to JAC.
- So ask JAC in writing before assuming it can help.
- The old certificate is usually right and newer records drifted.
- In that case, correct the Aadhaar, not the certificate.
- If the board wrote your name wrongly, a public notice links it.
- Never use the change of name form for a spelling error.