Mumbai : In what can be described as a landmark step, the Mumbai Police has made the C-Form registration process for foreign guests fully online. The Hotel Industry has for long been demanding the easing of procedures, reduction of paperwork and making submission of forms online. The move to make the procedure online in Mumbai is expected to go live in other cities of Maharashtra too.

“Hotels providing accommodation to foreigners have to submit Form C to the registration authorities within 24 hours. This entailed a lot of paper work and submission of hard copies. The new order eliminates not only the paperwork and procedures but also reduces wastage of man-hours. More importantly, it marks a change in attitude and adoption of modern practices. In the era of emails and digitization, hard copies were out of place,” says Mr. Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, Hotel & Restaurant Association Western India (HRAWI).

The office of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Special Branch 2, CID, FRRO, vide a note, declared that, “hotelkeepers need not submit manual C Form to FRRO, Mumbai Office provided C-Form are sent online and the hotelkeepers submit undertaking to this office in enclosed format.”

“The new order is a great relief to all hoteliers. We are thankful to Ms. Aswati G. Dorje, DCP HQ2, Special Branch for acceding to this request. Together with the Mumbai Police we will be holding seminars for hoteliers to ensure adherence to guidelines and compliance,” says Mr. D.S. Advani, President, HRAWI.

The association has already compiled and dispatched to all its members a “Step By Step Procedure” detailing the process for registration and online filing of the C-Form data for foreign guests.

“When I, as the Senior Vice President of HRAWI, had met Mr. Subramanian, IGP, who triggered a lot of e-governance within the police department,  was himself surprised why this C  Form online issue, which was discussed many years back with him had not yet been implemented, after which, us meeting DCP Mrs. Dorje many a times thereafter, had initiated the Union Law and Order department for the much needed comment and ultimately the e-filing today becomes a reality for other States to follow”, says Mr. Kamlesh Barot, the immediate past President of HRAWI.