West Bengal State Gazette: It Is the Kolkata Gazette
That is the first thing to know, and it explains why searching for a West Bengal Gazette turns up so little that is official. It is registered as WB/SC-247 and was the Calcutta Gazette before the city was renamed. The second thing: which Part your notice goes in decides everything, and Part II is the one that belongs to citizens.
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The West Bengal State Gazette (Quick Answer)
The official journal of the Government of West Bengal is the Kolkata Gazette, registered WB/SC-247. Part I carries orders and notifications by the Governor, the High Court and the Government Treasury. Part II is where a resident of West Bengal notifies a change of name, surname, deletion of a surname, reversion to a maiden name, religion or gender, along with public notices, and where an advocate can notify Bar Council enrolment. Part III carries its own notifications. Part II is printed by Saraswaty Press Limited, having moved from the Government Press at Alipore, and publishes in about seven days for Rs 1,100. It is not the right route in four situations: a passport, a minor, living outside West Bengal, or an authority that asks specifically for the Gazette of India.
| Point | Kolkata Gazette Part II | Gazette of India Part IV |
|---|---|---|
| Who may use it | Adult residents of West Bengal | Any Indian citizen, including those abroad |
| Minors | Not the route | Yes, at a higher fee |
| Affidavit | Before a First Class Judicial Magistrate | A notary is accepted |
| How you apply | Online end to end on the state portal | Physical file, posted to Delhi |
| Newspapers | One Bengali and one English daily | A newspaper advertisement, original page kept |
| Fee | Rs 1,100 on GRIPS | Rs 1,100 adult, Rs 1,700 minor, Rs 3,500 from abroad |
| Time | About 7 days | About 30 to 45 days |
| Tracking | Application number and SMS updates | By correspondence with the department |
| Passport cases | Not the route | Yes |
| Living outside West Bengal | Not the route | Yes |
| Also covers | Religion, gender, public notices, advocate enrolment | Change of name notifications for individuals |
| Download | From the state portal after the SMS | Free from the central e-gazette, no certification needed |
On This Page
- Why you cannot find a West Bengal Gazette
- Part I, Part II and Part III
- Everything Part II can notify
- Who prints it, and the Alipore confusion
- Where the Part II guidelines come from
- Six permitted languages
- Ordinary and Extraordinary issues
- The benefits of the state gazette
- The benefits of the central gazette
- Which one your case needs
- Speed, cost and the deadline question
- The state route, step by step
- The central route, step by step
- What neither gazette does
- FAQ
- Enquiry form
Is There a West Bengal Gazette? The Kolkata Gazette Explained
People search for a West Bengal Gazette and find agents rather than government. The publication itself is The Kolkata Gazette, registered as WB/SC-247, and before the city was renamed it was The Calcutta Gazette, printed at Alipore under the Superintendent of Government Printing.
So the phrase is a description, not a title. If you are looking for an issue, a notification or a rule, search for the Kolkata Gazette and the Part you need, and you will find official material instead of advertisements.
Issue numbering tells you a lot
A reference such as WB(Part-II)/2025/SAR tells you the Part and the year at a glance. If a document you are given does not carry a reference in that shape, ask what exactly it is.
Kolkata Gazette Part I, Part II and Part III: What Each Carries
Part I
Orders and notifications by the Governor of West Bengal, the High Court, the Government Treasury and similar authorities. This is where the state announces its own decisions, including the rules that govern the other Parts.
Part II
The citizen's part. Where a resident of West Bengal notifies a personal declaration such as a change of name, and where public notices are published. It is the Part almost everyone reading this actually needs.
Part III
A separate category of notifications, published alongside the others. Like Part I, it is not where an individual publishes a change of name.
Getting the Part right matters because they are produced and applied for differently. An application prepared for the wrong Part is not a small error, it is the wrong process.
What Kolkata Gazette Part II Can Notify: Name, Surname, Religion, Gender
- A change of name, including correction of spelling
- A change of surname, including deletion of a surname
- Reversion to a maiden name on divorce, separation or the death of a husband
- A change of religion
- A change of gender
- Public notices and advertisements, including by organisations
- An advocate on the roll of the Bar Council of West Bengal notifying their enrolment
And government employees
The Part II guidelines state that the facility applies to government employees as well. If you are in service, that does not remove your department's own rules, so read the position for government employees before choosing.
Saraswaty Press or Government Press Alipore: Who Prints Part II Now
Part II was previously printed at the West Bengal Government Press at Alipore, under the Department of Industry, Commerce and Enterprise. Parts I and III were already the responsibility of Saraswaty Press Limited, a government enterprise under the Public Enterprises and Industrial Reconstruction Department.
The government then moved Part II to Saraswaty Press as well, which is exactly why so many websites still send people to Alipore for something that is no longer done there. If a page gives you an address without telling you which Part it belongs to or when it was last checked, treat it carefully.
The gazette offices in West Bengal, with the addresses set out and the common errors named.
You do not need to go anywhere
Part II is applied for online, from any location, through the state portal. The address question only matters if somebody has told you to travel, and usually they should not have.
Kolkata Gazette Part II Guidelines Notified by the Governor
The guidelines governing Part II publication were notified in exercise of the power conferred by clause (3) of Article 166 of the Constitution, and published in an Extraordinary issue of Part I.
Which is a useful illustration of how the Parts fit together: the state used Part I to set the rules for Part II. It also means the guidelines are a published document you can read yourself rather than something an agent interprets for you.
The guidelines explained in plain language, including what changed from the earlier version.
False submissions are dealt with
The guidelines state that a false, incomplete, misleading or misrepresented submission leads to forfeiture of the application fees and appropriate legal action. Check your own details rather than trusting whoever typed the form.
Six Permitted Languages for a Kolkata Gazette Notification
A Part II notification may be published in Bengali, English, Hindi, Urdu, Nepali or Santhali, provided the text is legible and within the prescribed box size.
That list matters in a state with this many language communities, and it is worth knowing before somebody tells you the notice must be in English. It need not be.
Choose for the reader, not the rule
Whichever language you publish in, the notification will be read later by offices, banks and employers. English is often the practical choice for that reason, but it is a choice, not a requirement.
Kolkata Gazette Ordinary and Extraordinary Issues
Alongside its ordinary issues, the Kolkata Gazette publishes Extraordinary issues, used when something has to be notified without waiting for the next scheduled publication.
You will see the word on the header of many official documents, and the Part II guidelines themselves appeared in one. For an individual publishing a change of name, this is background rather than something to act on, but it explains why two gazette documents can look different and both be genuine.
Reading a gazette page
The header tells you the Part, whether the issue is Extraordinary, and the date. Those three things identify any gazette document you are handed.
Benefits of the West Bengal State Gazette for Name Change
For an adult resident of West Bengal with no passport in the picture, the state route is usually the better one, and here is why.
It is far faster
About seven days where the documents are in order, against 30 to 45 days centrally. If a deadline is anywhere in view, this is the difference that matters most.
It is online end to end
Register with a mobile number and apply from anywhere in the state. Nothing is posted, so nothing is lost in the post, and there is no courier cost.
You can track it
An application number and SMS updates to your registered mobile, so you know where the file is instead of wondering.
Mistakes can be revised
The portal allows a submitted application to be revised within a short window, which is a safety net the postal route simply does not have.
It covers more than names
Religion and gender changes, public notices and advocate enrolment all go through the same Part, so one process serves several needs.
Six languages
Bengali, English, Hindi, Urdu, Nepali and Santhali, which suits families whose documents are not in English.
Benefits of the Central Gazette of India for Name Change
The Gazette of India is slower and more troublesome, and there are still situations where it is the only sensible answer, or simply the better one.
It works for passports
Where a passport is part of your name change, this is the route. That single fact decides a large share of all cases.
It works for minors
A child's name change goes centrally, which matters for school and board records where most minor cases begin.
It works from anywhere
Including from outside West Bengal and from abroad, with a fee band for applicants overseas. Residence in the state is not required.
A notary is enough
No Magistrate is needed for the affidavit, which is genuinely easier for anyone who cannot readily attend a court.
Free permanent download
Issues are downloaded from the central e-gazette at no cost, and the department states that a downloaded copy needs no certification.
It is what some offices ask for
Certain employers, departments and service records specify the Gazette of India by name. When they do, that is the end of the argument.
State Gazette or Central Gazette: Which Your Case Needs
Is a passport involved?
If your passport is changing, or will need to reflect the new name, use the central route. Do not publish in the state gazette first and hope it is accepted.
Is the applicant a minor?
Part II is for adults. A child's name change goes centrally, at the higher fee for a minor.
Do you live in West Bengal?
Part II is for residents of the state. If you have moved away, or are abroad, the central route is the one open to you.
Has anyone asked for a particular gazette in writing?
An employer, a department or an admission body may specify one. Follow what they wrote rather than choosing for yourself, and keep their letter with your file.
None of the above?
Then you are an adult resident of West Bengal with a free choice, and the state route is faster, online and trackable. Use it.
The full name change guide walks through documents and costs for both routes.
Kolkata Gazette vs Gazette of India: Time, Cost and Deadlines
The headline fee is Rs 1,100 on both routes for an adult, so cost is rarely what decides it. Time usually is: about a week against 30 to 45 days.
And neither figure is the whole timeline. Before publication you need an affidavit and newspaper notices, and after publication every authority has to be approached separately, each with its own processing time. If an admission or recruitment deadline is driving this, count backwards from it through all three stages before choosing a route.
What a gazette notification actually costs, including the newspaper and affidavit charges people forget.
The expensive mistake
Choosing the state route for speed when the case actually needed the central one, then having to do it again. Check the four questions above before paying anything.
Kolkata Gazette Part II Name Change Process, Step by Step
For an adult resident of West Bengal. About a week, at Rs 1,100.
Fix the exact new name
Every letter, used identically on the affidavit, both newspapers, the application and every record afterwards.
Affidavit before a First Class Judicial Magistrate
The portal asks for the affidavit number and the Magistrate's name, so a notary will not serve on this route. Sign in the old name.
Notices in two daily newspapers
One Bengali and one English daily, complete pages kept with masthead and date.
Register and apply on the portal
Registration is by mobile number. Identity proof under 2 MB, photograph under 100 KB. The application walked through screen by screen.
Pay Rs 1,100 on GRIPS
The state payment portal, against your application number.
Wait for the SMS, then download
About seven days where the documents are in order. Checking status and downloading.
Gazette of India Name Change Process, Step by Step
For a passport case, a minor, or an applicant outside West Bengal. Filed by post, 30 to 45 days.
Swear a notarised affidavit
On stamp paper, before a notary. No Magistrate is needed on this route.
Publish a newspaper advertisement
Keep the original page, since a clipping alone is often refused.
Prepare the proforma
Typed, not handwritten, in the prescribed form, signed by two witnesses with their addresses.
Sign in the old name
Deponent and witnesses both. The step most often got wrong, and it sends the file back.
Pay on BharatKosh
Rs 1,100 adult, Rs 1,700 minor, Rs 3,500 from abroad.
Post the file to the Department of Publication
Civil Lines, Delhi 110054, in your own name. Agents are not permitted to file for you.
Download from egazette.gov.in
Free, in 30 to 45 days, and no certification of the downloaded copy is needed.
What a Gazette Notification Cannot Do
Neither the state gazette nor the central one corrects a single record. Both are public notifications: they announce a change and create proof that it was announced. They do not reach into your Aadhaar, your PAN, your board certificate, your birth record or your service book and rewrite them.
After publication you still apply to every authority separately, with the gazette as supporting evidence, and each decides on what is in front of it. Anyone telling you a gazette makes the new name valid everywhere at once is describing something neither document does.
And sometimes you need neither
A plain spelling correction, or a surname on marriage, frequently needs no gazette at all. The spelling correction test takes a minute and can save the whole exercise.
West Bengal State Gazette: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the West Bengal State Gazette actually called?
The Kolkata Gazette, registered as WB/SC-247, and known as the Calcutta Gazette before the city was renamed. It is the official journal of the Government of West Bengal, and searching for a West Bengal Gazette rather than the Kolkata Gazette is one reason people struggle to find anything official.
What are the Parts?
Part I carries orders and notifications by the Governor of West Bengal, the High Court, the Government Treasury and similar authorities. Part II is the citizen's part, where a resident notifies a change of name and other personal declarations. Part III carries its own category of notifications. Issues are numbered in a form such as WB(Part-II)/2025/SAR, which tells you the Part and the year at a glance.
What can be notified through Part II?
More than most people realise. A change of name, a change of surname including deletion of a surname, reversion to a maiden name on divorce, separation or the death of a husband, a change of religion and a change of gender. Public notices and advertisements are also published there, and an advocate on the roll of the Bar Council of West Bengal can notify their enrolment.
Does it apply to government employees?
The Part II guidelines state that it is applicable to government employees as well. A central government employee is separately governed by their own departmental order on name changes, so if you are in service, ask your establishment section which instructions apply to you before choosing a route.
What is an Extraordinary issue?
A gazette issue published outside the ordinary schedule, when something needs notifying without waiting. The Part II guidelines themselves were notified by the Governor and published in an Extraordinary issue of Part I, which is a neat illustration of how the Parts relate to each other.
Who prints and publishes it?
Saraswaty Press Limited, a Government of West Bengal enterprise under the Public Enterprises and Industrial Reconstruction Department. Part II printing was previously done at the West Bengal Government Press at Alipore and was moved to Saraswaty Press, which is why outdated Alipore addresses still circulate on other websites.
Which languages are allowed?
The Part II guidelines permit Bengali, English, Hindi, Urdu, Nepali and Santhali, which is broader than most people expect and matters in a state with this many language communities.
How long does a Part II notification take?
Where the documents are in order, the guidelines indicate the notification is issued within about seven days of submission, and the applicant is informed by SMS on the registered mobile number. That is the single biggest practical advantage of the state route.
When is the central gazette the better choice?
When a passport is involved, when the person is a minor, when you live outside West Bengal, or when a particular authority or employer asks specifically for the Gazette of India. The state route cannot serve those cases, however convenient it is.
Is the state gazette less valid than the central one?
No. Both are official gazettes and both are accepted as public notification. They differ in who may use them and in what particular authorities ask for, not in legal weight. The right question is not which is stronger but which one your case and your documents actually require.
What happens if I submit something false?
The guidelines state that a false, incomplete, misleading or misrepresented submission leads to forfeiture of the application fees and appropriate legal action. That is a good reason to check every detail yourself rather than leaving it to whoever is filling the form.
Does publishing in either gazette change my documents?
No. A gazette is a public notification and it corrects no register by itself. After publication you still apply separately to every authority holding a record, and each decides on the evidence in front of it.
Official Sources for the West Bengal State Gazette
Kolkata Gazette Part II portal
wbgazettepart2.in: the application, the guidelines, the user manual and the payment procedure.
Public Enterprises and Industrial Reconstruction Department
peir.wb.gov.in: the department under which Saraswaty Press publishes the gazette, and the published Part II guidelines.
The Gazette of India
egazette.gov.in: the central e-gazette, free to search and download.
Understanding the Gazette in West Bengal
What the gazette is, who files what, and what nobody can do for you.
Get Call and Name Change Format
Four Questions Decide Your Route
A passport, a minor, living outside the state, or an authority asking for one by name. If none of those applies, you are an adult resident of West Bengal with a free choice, and the state route is faster and fully online. Tell us your situation and we will tell you which one you need, and whether you need one at all. Monday to Saturday, across West Bengal.