The complete guide to changing your name in Shillong and across West Meghalaya. Three legal steps, the Khasi-and-English newspaper rule that north-India guides get wrong, and the real Meghalaya State Gazette vs Central Gazette choice, with verified fees, documents and doorstep service.
A quick walkthrough of the affidavit, the newspaper ad and the gazette notification, which applies to Shillong residents.
In this video, the YourDoorstep team explains how to change your name legally through the gazette: the documents you need, the real fees, and how we handle the whole process at your doorstep, including in Shillong.
Changing your name in Shillong comes down to three legal steps: a notarised affidavit, a newspaper publication, and a gazette notification. Do all three correctly and your new name is recognised across every government and private record in India, from your passport and PAN to board certificates. Miss one, or let a spelling drift between them, and you are back to the start, paying the government fee again. This guide walks through the exact procedure for anyone living in Shillong or the wider East Khasi Hills district, and it fixes two things that north-India guides get wrong for Meghalaya: which newspapers you actually need, and the fact that the state gazette press is right here in your city.
To change your name legally in Shillong, complete three steps. Sign a notarised affidavit stating your old name, new name and reason, publish the change in one Khasi and one English newspaper, then apply for a gazette notification. Shillong residents can use the Meghalaya State Gazette (printed in the city, megpns.gov.in) or the Central Gazette. The Central fee is Rs 1,100 for adults and Rs 1,700 for minors, and the total time is about 4 to 6 weeks.
Definition: A gazette notification is an official notice published in the Gazette (the Meghalaya Gazette, or Part IV of the Gazette of India) that turns your name change into a public, legally recognised record, accepted by the passport office, banks, UIDAI and government departments.
Every legal name change in India, Shillong included, runs through the same three stages. There is no shortcut, and doing one or two of them does not make the change legal.
State your old name, new name, father's or husband's name, address and reason, on stamp paper, signed before a notary or oath commissioner.
Publish the notice in two papers, one Khasi and one English. Keep the full original printed pages, not photos.
Apply through the Meghalaya State Gazette or the Central Gazette with the affidavit, cuttings, ID, photos, declaration and fee receipt. Once published, this is your legal proof.
You swear an affidavit on non-judicial stamp paper stating your old name, new name, father's or husband's name, address and the reason for the change. It is signed before a Notary Public or Oath Commissioner. In Shillong you can buy e-stamp paper through SHCIL vendors and notarise it through any registered notary in the city.
You publish a short name-change notice in two newspapers, and this is where Meghalaya differs from the Hindi belt. You need one in Khasi, the state's main language, and one in English. The ad carries your old name, new name, father's or husband's name and address. Keep the original printed pages, not phone photos, because they go into your gazette file.
You submit the affidavit, both newspaper pages, ID and address proof, a passport-size photo, a signed declaration and a soft-copy CD, along with the government fee. For the Meghalaya State route, the file is handled by the Directorate of Printing and Stationery, Shillong (Printing & Stationery Department) and published through megpns.gov.in. For the Central route, the file goes to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi-110054, and is printed in Part IV of the Gazette of India, which you download from egazette.gov.in.
Get this right, because most name-change guides are written for the Hindi belt and give the wrong advice for Meghalaya.
North-India guides routinely tell you to publish in Hindi. That is wrong for Meghalaya. Here, the state language is Khasi, so you publish the name-change notice in one Khasi daily and one English daily. Widely circulated Khasi papers in Shillong include Dainik Sambad, Syandan Patrika and Meghalaya Times, and for English you can use a national daily's northeast edition or a local English paper.
Here is Shillong's real advantage, and where Central files go instead.
Because Shillong is the state capital, the Directorate of Printing and Stationery, Shillong, run by the Printing & Stationery Department, is located right here in the city, and the state's notifications are published through the Meghalaya Gazette archive on megpns.gov.in at megpns.gov.in. So if you use the Meghalaya State Gazette, the office that handles it is in Shillong itself, which is a genuine convenience.
If you use the Central Gazette, your file goes to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi-110054, published in Part IV and downloaded from egazette.gov.in. There is no Central Gazette counter in Shillong, and since Delhi is a long way off, that file travels by post or courier, or through a representative. So for an Shillong resident the state route is the more convenient one to reach; the trade-off is acceptance, covered next.
Both are legally valid. The right choice depends on where you need the name recognised, and Shillong's distance from Delhi makes this a real weigh-up.
| Point | Meghalaya State Gazette | Central Gazette of India |
|---|---|---|
| Run by | Directorate of Printing and Stationery, Shillong, Secretariat Hills, Shillong-793001 | Department of Publication, Delhi |
| How to apply | State portal megpns.gov.in | File to Delhi by post, courier or a service |
| Published in | Meghalaya Gazette | Part IV, Gazette of India |
| Download | megpns.gov.in | egazette.gov.in |
| Best for | Records staying inside Meghalaya | Passport, visa, PAN, central jobs, embassies |
Choose the Central Gazette if you need it for a passport, visa or foreign embassy; if you are updating PAN or Aadhaar and want the most widely trusted proof; if your employer runs strict background verification; if you work in or plan to apply for a central government job; or if your records may travel beyond Meghalaya. It is accepted everywhere without question, which is why it is the safest pick for anything that leaves the state, even though the file has to reach Delhi.
Choose the Meghalaya State Gazette if your records, job and life are staying within the state, and you would prefer a route that is often cheaper and handled by a press right here in Shillong. Its local availability is a real convenience when Delhi is around 2,500 km away.
Filing from elsewhere in Meghalaya or the Northeast? The Central Gazette route is identical across the region. See the full Meghalaya name change guide for the parent state, the Agartala guide and Aizawl guide for the neighbouring capitals, and the Delhi guide for where the central files land.
A city that printed the Northeast's gazettes: Shillong has been gazette country since 1874, when the Assam Secretariat Press printed the region's official gazette here, decades before Meghalaya's own Directorate of Printing and Stationery was carved out in 1982 at Secretariat Hills. Today the Meghalaya Gazette carries personal name change notices in Part IX, and every issue is archived free on megpns.gov.in. The Central Gazette route runs in parallel from Delhi for an all-India notification.
The pages ranking for this topic copy each other, and the same errors travel from site to site. Even big finance portals carry outdated details. Here is what they say, against the verified position.
| What many websites say | The verified fact |
|---|---|
| "The Gazette notification fee varies from Rs 700 to Rs 900" | Those are old figures still circulating on major portals. The current Central Gazette fee is Rs 1,100 for an adult and Rs 1,700 for a minor, paid on BharatKosh (NTRP), with Rs 250 per extra alias and Rs 3,500 for applicants living abroad. |
| "A copy of the notification will be sent to you by post by the authority" | Printed Central Gazette copies stopped from 1 October 2015. You download the PDF yourself from egazette.gov.in (Part IV, published every Saturday), and Meghalaya Gazette issues sit on megpns.gov.in. Neither needs certification. |
| "Submit a CD with the typed content of your notification" | The CD belongs to the old process. The current Department of Publication checklist runs on the BharatKosh payment receipt, the notarised affidavit, newspaper originals, ID proofs, photographs and two hard copies of the specimen form. No compact disc. |
| "Send your application along with a DD of the fee" | Demand drafts are not accepted at all. The Central Gazette fee is paid online through BharatKosh (NTRP) only, and the fee is non-refundable. |
| "The announcement should be published in all major national newspapers" | Two newspapers are enough, in practice one English daily and one Khasi daily in Shillong. Nobody needs a campaign across every national paper, and the extra ads add cost without adding any legal value. |
| "Under the Family Courts Act of 1988, a woman can initiate proceedings in her maiden name" | The Family Courts Act is of 1984, not 1988, and more importantly, no family court step exists anywhere in a gazette name change. Marriage, divorce or personal preference all use the same three steps: affidavit, two newspaper ads and the gazette notification. |
| "In our Online Name Change Service in Noida, you do not need to go to any government office" (on a Meghalaya page) | Noida is 2,000 km from Shillong. Lines like this show the page is a template copied across cities without even reading it, and the process details on such pages deserve the same trust. Every fact on this page is checked against Meghalaya's own gazette system and the Department of Publication's guidelines. |
| "Draw a Demand Draft in favour of the Controller of Publications, Shillong" | There is no Controller of Publications in Shillong, and demand drafts are not accepted anyway. The Department of Publication sits at Civil Lines, Delhi-110054, and the Central Gazette fee is paid only online through BharatKosh. |
| "Get a name change form from your local courthouse, give compelling reasons, and if approved you receive a court order" | The gazette route never touches a courthouse. There is no form from a court, no approval of your reasons and no court order. It is a notification process: affidavit, two newspaper ads, then the gazette, and the Department checks documents and format, not motives. |
| "One ad must be in the regional language, Hindi" | Hindi is not Meghalaya's regional language, Khasi, Garo and English are the languages here, and for a simple name change there is no language restriction at all. In Shillong, one English daily plus one Khasi daily is the practical pair. |
| "The fee depends on the type of change: correction, marriage or religion" | The Central Gazette fee is fixed by age, not by type: Rs 1,100 for an adult and Rs 1,700 for a minor, whether it is a spelling correction, a post-marriage change or a full new name. |
| "Any old affidavit and newspaper ad will work" | The Department of Publication does not accept documents older than one year, and documents once submitted are not returned. |
| "Fix your birth certificate spelling through the gazette" | A birth certificate correction is a Registrar matter under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, through Shillong Municipal Board or your local Registrar, not the gazette. |
Have these ready before you start. A missing or mismatched document is the number-one cause of delay.
| Document | Needed? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Notarised name-change affidavit | Yes | Old name, new name, reason, father's/husband's name, address |
| Original newspaper cuttings | Yes | One Khasi, one English, full printed pages |
| Identity proof | Yes | Aadhaar, PAN, passport or voter ID |
| Address proof | Yes | Aadhaar, voter ID, utility bill or rent agreement |
| Two passport-size photos | Yes | Recent |
| Name-change proforma / application form | Yes | Prescribed format |
| Signed matching declaration | Yes | Hard copy and soft copy match |
| CD or pen drive (soft copy) | Yes | Notification text in MS Word |
| Government fee receipt | Yes | BharatKosh (Central) or state payment (Meghalaya route) |
| Marriage certificate | For marriage | Surname change after marriage |
| Divorce decree | For divorce | Restoring your maiden name |
| Parents' ID + child's birth certificate | For minors | Guardian applies and signs |
| Deed + departmental route | For government staff | Under the MHA Office Memorandum |
Mostly, not entirely. You can draft the affidavit, book the newspaper ads, pay the fee, and download the final gazette PDF online. The Meghalaya State Gazette is applied through the megpns.gov.in portal, so the state route is quite online-friendly. What is not purely online: notarisation needs a notary's signature, and for the Central route the physical file reaches Delhi by post or courier.
So "100 percent online" overstates it. Call it mostly online, with one notary step, and that is exactly the part we handle for you.
Costs vary with your newspaper choice and whether you do it yourself or hire help. Here are realistic ranges.
| Item | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| E-stamp paper for affidavit | Rs 10 to Rs 100 |
| Notary / affidavit drafting | Rs 100 to Rs 500 |
| Newspaper ads (both papers) | Rs 400 to Rs 3,000 (depends on the papers) |
| Central Gazette fee (adult) | Rs 1,100 (BharatKosh) |
| Central Gazette fee (minor) | Rs 1,700 (BharatKosh) |
| Extra alias name in the notice | Rs 250 per alias, added to the gazette fee |
| Central Gazette fee (living abroad) | Rs 3,500 as per the Department of Publication guidelines (BharatKosh) |
| Meghalaya State Gazette fee | Nominal state fee (varies) |
| Courier of file to Delhi (Central route) | Rs 150 to Rs 400 (longer distance from Meghalaya) |
| Self-done total | Roughly Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 plus |
Plan for about 4 to 6 weeks end to end: the affidavit and notarisation take a day, the newspaper publication a few days to a week depending on the paper's schedule, and the gazette processing roughly 30 to 45 days for the Central route after a clean submission, with a little extra for the longer courier distance from Meghalaya. The state route can sometimes be quicker, since the press is in Shillong.
Updating your individual documents afterward, such as Aadhaar, PAN and passport, is a separate timeline on top of this. There is no official fast-track, so anyone promising a "3-day gazette" is not being straight with you.
Getting the gazette is the milestone, not the finish line. You still carry it into each record, and order matters. Aadhaar comes first, so we have added a short video on that.
| Order | Document | How to update |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aadhaar | Update at an Aadhaar Seva Kendra in Shillong with the gazette; it is the base ID others reference |
| 2 | PAN | Apply for name correction with your updated Aadhaar and the gazette copy |
| 3 | Passport | Re-issue at the Passport Seva Kendra with the Central Gazette |
| 4 | Bank & KYC | Update once your core IDs reflect the new name |
| 5 | Voter ID, licence, ration card | Submit the respective correction forms |
| 6 | School, board (MBOSE/CBSE) & university | Boards accept the gazette for name corrections on certificates |
| 7 | Employer, PF, insurance, property | Update as needed with the gazette |
For each update you usually submit copies of the affidavit, the newspaper ad and the gazette notification together. Keep several printouts, because every office wants its own copy.
A point most name-change pages get flat wrong. Here is the correct route, with a short video for Shillong.
They often push a gazette notification to fix a spelling mistake in a birth certificate. That is the wrong route. A clerical or spelling error in a birth certificate, a wrong letter or a registrar's typo, is corrected by the Registrar of Births and Deaths under Section 15 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969, through the local municipal body, which in the city is the Shillong Municipal Board. It is not a gazette job. The gazette route is for an actual change of name, adopting a genuinely different name.
A woman changing her surname follows the same three steps and adds her marriage certificate to the file. Taking a spouse's surname is a choice, not a legal compulsion, but the gazette is what makes it stick across Aadhaar, PAN, passport and bank.
Reverting to a maiden or previous name again uses the affidavit, newspaper and gazette route, with the decree as supporting proof. The process does not change; only the reason and supporting document differ.
A parent or legal guardian applies and signs on the child's behalf. The minor fee is typically Rs 1,700. For MBOSE, CBSE and most boards, expect them to ask for the gazette (and sometimes a court order) for school records.
Shillong has a large state government workforce, so this matters here. Meghalaya state government employees can route service-record name changes through the state gazette process. Central government employees do not file the standard self-application gazette. They follow the Ministry of Home Affairs Office Memorandum No. 190016/1/87-Estt.(A) dated 12/03/1987, which involves executing a deed, giving the required declarations, and publishing the change through the proper departmental channel.
A gazette on its own is only useful once your other records match it. We help you update your new name across all the documents that matter.
Name change or spelling correction with the gazette as proof.
Name update through the NSDL or UTIITSL route.
Name correction on the electoral roll via Form 8.
Re-issue with your new name using the Central Gazette.
Name update at the RTO with the gazette copy.
Update your name across bank accounts and KYC records.
Records for MBOSE, CBSE and universities.
Correction through the Municipal Corporation Registrar under the RBD Act, not the gazette.
Name change on policies and insurance records.
Tell us which documents you need updated. Call 9540005026 and we guide you through each one after the gazette.
We handle name change work for people all across Shillong and the wider East Khasi Hills district, with doorstep pickup and delivery.
From Police Bazar, Laitumkhrah and Laban to Mawlai, Nongthymmai and Madanrting across the hills, the legal steps are identical, because a name change runs on paperwork, not on which part of Shillong you live in. The same file works for the whole of Meghalaya and everywhere in India, and birth certificate corrections stay with the Shillong Municipal Board or your local Registrar.
Do not see your area? We still cover it. Call 9540005026 and we will confirm.
Most rejections come down to avoidable mismatches. Because the gazette fee is non-refundable, a rejection means paying again.
| Reason | What to do instead |
|---|---|
| Name mismatch across affidavit, ads and ID | Fix one exact spelling and use it everywhere, even initials |
| Wrong newspaper mix (two English or two Khasi) | Use one Khasi and one English paper |
| Photo or scan of the newspaper | Submit the original printed page |
| Incomplete proforma or missing declaration | Complete every field and sign the declaration |
| Specimen form that does not match the affidavit | Keep the specimen text identical to the affidavit and proforma |
| Wrong fee amount or missing receipt | Pay the correct category and attach the receipt |
| Blurry or expired ID / address proof | Use clear, current documents |
| Documents more than one year old | The Department of Publication does not accept documents older than one year, so file while papers are fresh; documents once submitted are not returned |
Doing it yourself is entirely possible and saves the service fee, if you have time to draft the affidavit correctly, book two newspaper ads (one Khasi, one English), prepare the specimen form in the right format, pay the fee, and either route the file to the state press or courier a matched file to Delhi. The trade-off is the rejection risk: one small mismatch and you restart, minus the non-refundable fee.
An Shillong name-change agent handles the affidavit, the newspaper booking, the file preparation, the fee and the submission, and tracks the publication for you. It is the sensible choice if your time is tight, if there is a deadline such as a passport appointment or an overseas move, or if your case has a wrinkle: a minor, a divorce, a government service record, or a document already carrying a spelling error, especially helpful given the distance to the Central Gazette office in Delhi.
The Meghalaya State Gazette through the Shillong press or the Central Gazette in Delhi, we advise which fits your case and run it for you.
We book both newspaper ads in the correct languages and format, in the dailies that circulate in Shillong.
Document pickup and delivery across Shillong and West Meghalaya, with everything else on call and WhatsApp.
We review the full file before filing, so there are fewer rejections, and we handle Aadhaar, PAN and passport after.
How much does the Central Gazette cost for Shillong residents? Rs 1,100 for adults and Rs 1,700 for minors, paid on BharatKosh (NTRP). Each extra alias name adds Rs 250, applicants living abroad pay Rs 3,500, and the fee is non-refundable.
How fresh do my documents need to be? The Department of Publication does not accept documents older than one year, so complete the affidavit, newspaper ads and gazette filing without a long gap. Documents once submitted are not returned.
Which newspapers do I use in Shillong? One Khasi daily and one English daily, not Hindi. Common Khasi options include Dainik Sambad, Syandan Patrika or Meghalaya Times, paired with an English paper.
Is there a gazette office in Shillong? Yes, for the state gazette. The Directorate of Printing and Stationery, Shillong (Printing & Stationery Department) is in Shillong, with the e-Gazette at megpns.gov.in. The Central Gazette office is in Delhi.
Should I use the Meghalaya State Gazette or the Central Gazette? The state route suits records staying inside Meghalaya and is locally convenient; the Central Gazette is best for passport, visa, PAN and pan-India needs.
Is a birth certificate name change done through the gazette? No. It is a Registrar correction under Section 15 of the RBD Act, 1969, through the Shillong Municipal Board.
We advise the right route, prepare the affidavit, book the Khasi and English newspaper ads, pay the fee, and file the gazette for you, then guide you on updating Aadhaar, PAN and passport. Doorstep service across Shillong, honest pricing.
These are the searches people run right after this one. Here is the short, verified answer to each, so you do not have to open ten more tabs.
Central Gazette government fee: Rs 1,100 adult, Rs 1,700 minor on BharatKosh, plus Rs 250 per extra alias and Rs 3,500 if you live abroad. The Meghalaya State Gazette route has its own nominal fee. Stamp paper, notary and two newspaper ads come on top. The Rs 700 to Rs 900 figures on old portals are outdated.
The Meghalaya Gazette comes from the Directorate of Printing and Stationery at Secretariat Hills, Shillong-793001, and its issues sit on megpns.gov.in. Central Gazette files go to the Department of Publication, Civil Lines, Delhi-110054, public dealing 10 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM to 4 PM.
State route: search issues on megpns.gov.in, the official archive of the Printing and Stationery Department. Central route: search your name on egazette.gov.in under Weekly Gazette, Part IV, published every Saturday. Neither PDF needs certification.
Entirely your choice, nothing in law requires it. If you do want a change, the same three steps apply with your marriage certificate added. No court appearance is needed.
Partly online: BharatKosh payment and the final download from egazette.gov.in happen online, and Meghalaya Gazette issues are public on megpns.gov.in. The complete central file reaches Delhi by post, which works fine from Shillong, no nearly 2,000 km trip needed.
Meghalaya Board and universities update records against the gazette notification, so complete the gazette first. Board-specific forms and timelines then apply on top of it.
Legally you can file yourself, since the process is paperwork, not court. An agent mainly saves you from format rejections, and because the fee is non-refundable, one bounced file costs more than most assistance. Call 9540005026.
Explore our other verified guides: our national hub Name Change Service in India, the full Meghalaya name change guide for the parent state, and our Northeast neighbours: the Agartala guide and the Gangtok guide. Same verified facts, local routes.
People also search for: Name change agent in Shillong, gazette office Shillong, Meghalaya State Gazette name change, name change in birth certificate Shillong, surname change after marriage, passport name change Shillong, megpns.gov.in.
The fees, portals and process on this page are checked against official Government sources, not copied from other blogs.
Government fees and timelines can change from time to time. Always confirm current details on the official portals above before you apply.
Changing your name in Shillong is a defined three-step legal process: affidavit, newspaper publication and gazette notification. Two Meghalaya-specific points matter: publish in one Khasi and one English newspaper, not Hindi, and choose your gazette by where you need the name recognised. The Directorate of Printing and Stationery, Shillong is right here in Shillong, which makes the state route locally convenient, a real plus given the distance to Delhi. But for a passport, visa, PAN or a central government job, the Central Gazette is the safer pick because it is accepted everywhere. Match your name exactly across every document, keep your original newspaper copies, and update your records in the right order, starting with Aadhaar. Expect about 4 to 6 weeks and a realistic budget of Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 plus. If there is a deadline, a minor, a divorce, a service record or an existing spelling error in the mix, we can handle it end to end at your doorstep.
Three clean steps and two routes: we advise which fits you, then prepare and file the gazette across Shillong, and update your Aadhaar, PAN and passport.
