Government designations, jurisdiction, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses can change. Confirm the current department and whether it handles your exact document category before visiting or couriering an original.
What is an MEA Regional Authentication Centre?
RAC means Regional Authentication Centre. A document originating from a State or Union Territory must be authenticated by the designated RAC or State authority for that document’s place of origin before MEA attestation or apostille, unless an applicable electronic or exempt route is used. The RAC authentication stamp validates the regional origin and authorized signature of the document.
For educational records, these offices are commonly searched as the State Department authentication HRD centre list. Personal documents normally route through the designated Home or General Administration authority, while educational documents route through the State education, higher education, technical education, HRD, examination, or other listed department.
The directory is not one single walk-in counter per State. Some States list several departments, secretariat posts, education authorities, district officers, or Resident Commissioner offices. The correct choice depends on the document type, issuing authority, and State procedure.
Which authority applies to my document?
- Personal documents: MEA guidance points to the Home Department or General Administration Department of the State/UT. Examples include birth, marriage and similar civil documents, subject to local procedure.
- Educational documents: the concerned State/UT Education, Higher Education, Technical Education, examination, or other designated authority may apply.
- Commercial documents: these are generally pre-authenticated by the relevant Chamber of Commerce, not a State RAC.
- e-Sanad-covered documents: a separate electronic verification route may apply, so physical State authentication may not be required in the same way.
How to use the state-wise RAC directory
- Identify the State or Union Territory that issued the document.
- Select it in the directory and read all listed authority entries.
- Match the authority to the document category—not simply the nearest office.
- Verify current jurisdiction, appointment rules, fees, address, and document requirements with that department.
- After valid pre-authentication, follow the current MEA submission process through an authorized outsourced service provider where applicable.
Why the data loads after State selection
The full directory contains 201 entries across 36 State/UT headings. To keep the page fast, the initial HTML includes only the State selector and explanatory content. The detailed directory is stored in a separate JSON file and fetched once, only when a visitor selects a State. Later selections reuse the in-memory response without another download.
Important limits of this checker
This tool reproduces the supplied PDF rather than deciding legal eligibility. An office appearing in the directory does not prove that it currently handles every certificate, accepts walk-ins, or has an active signature record with MEA. Some legacy State/UT spellings from the PDF are normalized in the selector.
For the live procedure and current RAC document, use the official MEA Attestation/Apostille page. For help choosing an apostille or attestation route, request a document review.
Always treat the official MEA and State/UT instructions as controlling if they differ from this directory snapshot.
