New Delhi, July 24 -- The West Bengal government on Friday notified the replacement of gram panchayat pradhans and municipal body chairpersons as registrars of birth and death registrations, transferring the authority to DMs, nodal health department officers and heads of state-run hospitals.

The notification was issued a day after Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Agarwal announced that elected representatives in rural and civic bodies will no longer have the authority to issue birth and death certificates.

Agarwal had said on Thursday that henceforth only designated government officials would be authorised to issue birth and death certificates, removing the power from all elected public representatives, in the wake of widespread discrepancie...