Karnataka's Seva Sindhu portal has made it significantly easier to apply for a legal heir certificate online. If you are in Bangalore, Mysore, or any other part of Karnataka and need this document to transfer shares of a deceased family member, here's the complete process.
By RK Gupta, Company Secretary · Updated June 2026 · 12 min read
In Karnataka, the legal heir certificate is officially called the Varase Praman Patra (ವಾರಸು ಪ್ರಮಾಣ ಪತ್ರ in Kannada). The Revenue Department issues this document through the Tahsildar of the relevant taluka. It establishes who the legal heirs of a deceased person are — the surviving family members entitled to inherit the deceased's property, including financial assets like shares, mutual funds, bank deposits, and Provident Fund balances.
People sometimes confuse the Varase Praman Patra with a Succession Certificate. They are different. The Varase Praman Patra is a Revenue Department certificate that identifies heirs and is obtained relatively quickly through the Tahsildar. A Succession Certificate is a court order issued by a civil court under the Indian Succession Act, 1925, and is required specifically when a creditor needs to be satisfied or when an institution demands it for assets above a certain threshold. For share transmission purposes, most companies and RTAs accept the Revenue Department's legal heir certificate along with an indemnity bond — they do not necessarily demand a court-issued Succession Certificate unless the shareholding is very large or the company's policy requires it.
You may also see the Karnataka legal heir certificate referred to as a "Legal Heir Certificate (Revenue)" in English-language contexts, particularly in forms submitted to RTAs. The document serves the same purpose regardless of what it is called on a particular form.
The issuing authority is the Tahsildar of the taluka where the deceased person was permanently residing at the time of death. The Revenue Department, Karnataka, oversees this process through the district Collector hierarchy.
For applicants in Bengaluru Urban district, there are multiple urban talukas: Bengaluru North, Bengaluru South, Bengaluru East, Anekal, and Bengaluru North (Yeshwanthapura). You must apply to the Tahsildar of the taluka that covers the deceased's residential address. The BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) area falls under these urban talukas — BBMP's role is limited to death registration, not to issuing the legal heir certificate itself.
In rural Karnataka, a Gram Panchayat may play an initial documentary role — some panchayats issue a preliminary family details certificate or village officer attestation, which then supports the Tahsildar's verification process. However, the final Varase Praman Patra is always signed by the Tahsildar, not by the Gram Panchayat.
The Seva Sindhu portal at sevasindhu.karnataka.gov.in is the Karnataka government's integrated service delivery platform. It consolidates services from 62+ government departments into a single citizen-facing portal. For legal heir certificates, Seva Sindhu routes your application digitally to the Tahsildar's office of the correct taluka.
Before Seva Sindhu was launched, you had to appear in person at the Taluk office, submit paper documents, and chase the RI (Revenue Inspector) and Tahsildar separately. Now the entire application can be submitted online, documents uploaded as PDFs or images, and the final digitally signed certificate downloaded from the portal once approved. This is a genuine improvement, particularly for families managing estates from outside Karnataka.
To use Seva Sindhu, you need a registered account linked to your mobile number. Visit sevasindhu.karnataka.gov.in and register using your mobile number and Aadhaar. OTP-based verification is required. Once registered, log in and search for "Legal Heir Certificate" under the Revenue Department service list. The service is listed as Varase Praman Patra in Kannada and "Legal Heir Certificate" in English on the portal.
Bangalore applicants follow the same Seva Sindhu flow as the rest of Karnataka, but there are a few things specific to the urban talukas. Death registration in the BBMP area is handled by the local BBMP ward office or the hospital where death occurred — not by the Revenue Department. So your death certificate for a Bangalore resident will come from BBMP or the Karnataka Registration and Stamps Department's civil registration system. This certificate is then uploaded to Seva Sindhu as your primary supporting document.
Bangalore urban talukas tend to process applications somewhat faster than rural talukas because RI field enquiries in residential apartment buildings or gated communities are simpler to complete. Neighbours and society secretaries are generally more accessible for verification purposes.
Prepare the following before starting your Seva Sindhu application. Scanned copies should be clear, legible, and in PDF or JPEG format (Seva Sindhu typically accepts files up to 1MB per document — compress if needed):
For complete, well-documented applications submitted through Seva Sindhu, the standard government timeline is 15 to 30 working days. In practice:
The RI field enquiry is the main bottleneck. If the RI cannot locate someone at the address, or if the address differs from what is on Aadhaar, the enquiry gets delayed. Applications are sometimes stalled at the Tahsildar's desk if supporting documents are incomplete or if the family tree affidavit has inconsistencies. Following up on the Seva Sindhu portal (where you can track status) and, if needed, visiting the Tahsildar's office in person can help move a stalled application.
The state government fee is nominal: Rs 25 to Rs 100 depending on the nature of the certificate and the taluka's internal schedule. Seva Sindhu adds a convenience/service charge of around Rs 35 to Rs 50. There are no other official fees payable to the government or the Tahsildar's office.
If you engage a local agent or operator at a Common Service Centre (CSC/Nemmadi centre) to file the application on your behalf, they may charge Rs 200 to Rs 500 as their service fee. This is a private charge, not a government fee. Always collect a proper receipt if you pay any third party.
This is the single most frequent problem I see from Karnataka families trying to transmit shares. Death certificates issued by BBMP ward offices and smaller Karnataka municipalities are often printed in Kannada. While this is perfectly valid for applying to the Tahsildar, the RTAs — KFintech, MUFG Intime India (formerly Link Intime), and Beetal Financial — require documents in English or with a certified English translation attached.
If your death certificate is in Kannada, get it translated by a government-approved translator (available at district court premises in Bangalore, Mysuru, and other cities). The translator must sign and certify the translation, and you should have it notarised. Submit the original Kannada certificate along with the certified English translation to the RTA.
Similarly, if your Varase Praman Patra (legal heir certificate) is issued in Kannada — which it often is — the same requirement applies. Get a certified English translation notarised before submitting to the RTA for share transmission.
If one or more heirs are NRIs residing abroad, they cannot appear before the Revenue Inspector in person. In such cases, the NRI heir should provide a notarised and apostilled power of attorney in favour of a family member in Karnataka, authorising them to represent the NRI in the RI enquiry and subsequent proceedings. The RI will typically accept this arrangement as long as the POA is clearly worded and covers the legal heir certificate application process.
Problems arise when the deceased had properties or lived at addresses across multiple talukas, or when the Aadhaar address and the actual residential address at time of death are different. The Tahsildar of the taluka matching the actual last residential address is the correct authority. If there is a mismatch, carry documents (utility bills, rent agreement) proving the actual address to help the RI's enquiry proceed without confusion.
Where a deceased investor had shares registered jointly with a minor child, or where a minor child is an heir, the transmission process requires the guardian to apply. The Varase Praman Patra should explicitly name the minor heir along with the natural guardian's name. RTAs may ask for an additional certificate of guardianship in such cases.
Karnataka is home to some of India's largest publicly listed companies — Infosys, Wipro, and Biocon among them. If the deceased held shares in any of these companies, the RTA handling transmission will typically be KFintech (for Infosys) or MUFG Intime India (for Wipro). Both RTAs accept Karnataka legal heir certificates, provided the document meets their format requirements.
The transmission process, once you have the legal heir certificate, involves submitting a Transmission Request Form (TRF) to the RTA along with the following documents:
For shares that have been unclaimed and transferred to the IEPF (Investor Education and Protection Fund), the process is different and requires filing Form IEPF-5 with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The legal heir certificate is still required, but additional IEPF-specific steps apply. See our IEPF Claim Assistance service for more detail.
Many older Karnataka investors, particularly those who invested in the 1990s, still hold shares as physical certificates. These need to be transmitted to the heir's name first and then dematerialised. Physical shares cannot be sold directly on the exchange in demat form unless transmission is completed. The legal heir certificate is the key document that starts this chain — without it, the RTA will not process the physical certificate transmission.
After completing transmission into the heir's name, the physical certificate should be dematerialised through a Depository Participant (DP). Our Physical Shares to Demat service covers the full process including DRF form submission, ISIN identification, and DP coordination.
A question families often ask: do I need a Succession Certificate from a civil court, or will the Varase Praman Patra from the Tahsildar be enough for share transmission?
For most retail investors with shareholdings below Rs 5 lakh in a single company, the Revenue Department's legal heir certificate along with an indemnity bond is sufficient. RTAs follow SEBI's Circular SEBI/HO/MIRSD/MIRSD_RTAMB/P/CIR/2021/655 dated November 3, 2021, which has simplified transmission norms. Under this circular, for shares above Rs 5 lakh in a single company's folio, the RTA may ask for a probated Will or a Succession Certificate from a civil court.
If the total shareholding in any single company's folio is below Rs 5 lakh, the Varase Praman Patra from the Tahsildar should be accepted by the RTA. Always confirm with the specific RTA's transmission desk before beginning the process, as companies have some variation in their internal procedures.
Getting the legal heir certificate is only the first step. Once you have it, the share transmission process involves preparing precise documentation sets for each RTA, following up with Tahsildar offices, arranging certified translations, and coordinating with DPs for dematerialisation. Families dealing with the loss of a loved one often find this paperwork overwhelming, particularly when shares are spread across multiple companies or if any were transferred to IEPF.
At Investor Helpdesk, we assist Karnataka families with the complete transmission documentation package — from reviewing what legal heir certificate format is needed, to preparing the RTA submission set with proper translations, indemnity bonds, and TRF forms. If shares have gone to IEPF, we handle the IEPF claim process on your behalf. For name corrections in the share records — a common issue when the deceased's name was recorded differently by different companies — we handle share name correction as well.
You can reach us on WhatsApp at 9435529102 or use the assessment form below to tell us about your case. We respond to every inquiry personally within one business day.
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