A Gazetted Officer means a Government Servant, whose appointment was published in the official gazette of the Government of India. All Class I (Now, Group A) officers are gazetted. Normally, the Gazette publication starts with words like “The President is pleased to appoint or…The Governor is pleased to appoint. . . “.
While he receives some privileges in his parent office by virtue of his gazetted status, a lot is expected from him. First, the poor GO is expected to be on duty for 24 hours in the sense that if called for duty at any time, he should turn up without any excuse. Higher responsibilities, not directly in line of his regular job like conducting some enquiries, etc. are assigned to him without any additional remuneration.
In the public domain, attestation is an important responsibility upon him. He is expected to serve the public by attesting the copies after verifying them with the original. Thus, his attestation (of affixing his signature on the copy) virtually means that he has compared the document with the original and he is satisfied that it is 100% true. Further, he can issue conduct certificate to people known to him. For all these responsibilities, he is not expected to charge any payment from the public.
Signing in green ink is not mandatory, though by convention many GOs sue green ink. However, his rubber stamp below his signature is very very essential.
