The Office of the Registrar General, Birth and Death Registration (ORGBDR) has asked its field offices not to accept any application for modifying the date of birth in birth certificates.

"We've issued this order to our registration offices to prevent any kind of forgery," said Rashidul Hassan, registrar general of ORGBDR.

There are instances of people changing their birth dates for personal, said Hassan.

In a letter issued on February 6, the ORGBDR office said such applications were not acceptable for approval.

"Registrar offices are requested not to accept any applications for modification of birth registration according to date [provided in documents] of public examination, NID and passport," reads the letter, a copy of which The Daily Star has obtained.

However, considerations will be made in case of exceptional circumstances and based on evidence provided.

Hassan further said that sometimes guardians of students apply to modify birth dates to cover up gaps and there are cases where field offices have accepted the request.

In many cases, people also conceal information regarding birth certificate registration when applying for the national identity card (NID) and try to modify their birth dates afterwards. As per the relevant act, there is a binding to register birth and death with the ORGBDR.

In case of children, the birth date on the birth certificate is the primary information based on which they are admitted to schools, and passports and NIDs are prepared on this basis, reads the order undersigned by Hassan.

"However, in many cases, birth dates are changed during the public exam and while applying for NID and passports. Requests are later made to modify the birth date as per the date mentioned in the public exam, NID or passport," it reads.

"The registrar office accepts such applications, uploads and forwards them to the undersigned which is not appropriate," the letter added.