Police Verification Certificate Expiry: Track Every Guard's PV Before It Lapses
In short
There is no single national validity for a police verification certificate. Record each guard's valid-till date and get reminded 30 and 7 days before.
- No central rule fixes one validity period for a police verification certificate; read the date on the certificate and follow your state's rules and your client's contract.
- Under the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005, a guard must satisfy the agency about character and antecedents before being employed.
- Delhi's rules accept a verification certificate from the person only if the certificate is valid and there is no adverse report from another source.
There is no single, national validity period for a police verification certificate in India. What the law asks is that a security agency is satisfied about a guard's character and antecedents before it puts that guard on duty, and a certificate only counts while it is still valid. So the practical answer is to write down the valid-till date of every guard's and attendant's police verification, and to start the renewal a month before it.
This article explains what the law actually says, why police verifications quietly lapse in almost every agency, and how to set up a register on the phone that reminds you, and the guard, 30 days and 7 days before each one expires.
How long is a police verification certificate valid?
People search for a fixed number: six months, one year, three years. The honest answer is that the central law does not give one.
Section 10(1)(c) of the Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Act, 2005 says an agency shall not employ or engage a person as a private security guard unless that person satisfies the agency about his character and antecedents "in such manner as may be prescribed". The manner is left to each state's rules. (Checked on 26 October 2026.)
Take Delhi as an example. Rule 5(1) of the Delhi Private Security Agencies (Regulation) Rules, 2009 gives the agency three ways to be satisfied: its own verification, a character and antecedent verification certificate produced by the person, or a report from the Deputy Commissioner of Police. The second route comes with a condition: the certificate must be valid, and the agency must have no adverse report about the person from any other source. (Checked on 26 October 2026.)
So the validity that matters to you is set by three things, in this order:
- The date or period printed on the certificate by the police office that issued it.
- Your state's private security agency rules, which can be stricter than Delhi's.
- Your client's contract. Banks, hospitals, housing societies and factories often ask for a verification that is not older than a set period, and they check it at audit.
Home care agencies are in the same position without a PSARA licence behind them. A family that lets an attendant into the house expects the verification to be current, and many agencies promise it in their service terms.
This is general information, not legal advice: check with your state's controlling authority or an employment lawyer for your own case.
Why police verifications lapse in almost every agency
A police verification is done once, at joining, and then forgotten. That is the whole problem.
A typical agency with 80 guards across 12 sites keeps the reports in a cupboard at the office, or as photos in a supervisor's phone. Nobody owns the expiry dates. A guard who joined two years ago is still on night duty at the same society. The client's facility manager asks for the papers before an audit, and the office finds that 14 of them are older than the contract allows.
Three things make it worse:
- The certificate is not a staff document only. The guard gives you passport photos and a signed form, but the office applies at the police station and waits for the report. Staff cannot be chased for a part that the office has to do.
- Dates live in people's heads. "Ramesh's PV was done last Diwali" is not a register.
- Renewing loses the old copy. When the new report arrives, the old one is thrown away, and with it the proof that the guard was verified for the earlier period.
Set up a police verification register on the phone
In Shiftelio this lives in Staff documents, the part of the app where you collect documents from new joiners and check them off. You build a checklist once, ask your staff for it, and approve each document as it comes in. The steps below take about five minutes for the first checklist.
Tap New checklist and pick the Guard starter. It adds address and police verification on top of Basic KYC. Police verification is split in two, because two different people do the work: Details for police verification is what the guard sends (passport photos and a signed self-declaration), and Police verification report is marked Done by the office. Staff are never asked or reminded about office documents; you mark them when the report arrives.
Tap Add document, then Custom document. Name it "Police verification valid till" and choose a date as the way it is sent. Switch on Expiry date - remind 30 and 7 days before. A date document whose name says "valid till" or "expiry" is treated as an expiry date even before you touch the switch, but turn it on so there is no doubt.
Tap Ask staff and choose the people. New guards get the checklist at joining. For the guards you already have, ask them for the checklist once; anything they sent before is kept.
When the police report comes back, open the guard under People and upload it against Police verification report. The valid-till date is a document the guard is asked for, so a guard holding their own certificate can type it in; when the office has the report, you fill the date in for them and approve it. A manager with the Collect documents for staff permission can do this for the guards they look after; it is off by default, so switch it on in the role if your supervisors handle the paperwork.
What happens 30 days and 7 days before a PV expires
Once the date is in, you do not have to look at it again until it matters.
- 30 days before: the guard gets a notice on their phone that their document expires soon, and you and every co-owner get one naming the guard and the date. The document shows an Expiring soon chip on the guard's page.
- 7 days before: the second reminder goes to the same people.
- The day after the date: the chip turns to Expired.
- When you tap Renew: the guard is asked for that one document again. The old approved file stays saved, so you can still show that the guard was verified for the earlier period.
Reminders are app notifications for now. WhatsApp reminders for document expiry are not switched on yet, so make sure your guards have the Shiftelio app installed and notifications allowed.
The chips are what make this work at a glance. Open a guard's documents before a client audit and anything red or amber is the list of calls you have to make that week.
For home care agencies: see it before you send an attendant
If you run a home care agency on Shiftelio's home care add-on, which is priced separately, the same records show up where you decide who goes to a patient. When you pick staff for a patient's care plan, each attendant's row can carry a small chip: Docs: PV pending while the police verification report has not come in, Document expires soon or Document expired for a dated document, and Licence expired or Registration expires soon for drivers and nurses.
The chips only flag. They never block you from choosing someone, because an agency sometimes has to send the only person free at 6 a.m. and sort the paper the same day. What changes is that the decision is made knowingly, not discovered later by the family.
More on running an agency on the phone is on the home care page.
A monthly routine that keeps every PV current
Reminders handle the dates. A short monthly check handles everything else:
- Open Staff documents and look for any guard with an Expiring soon or Expired chip; tap Renew for each.
- For every Renew, start the police station application the same week. Reports can take weeks to come back.
- Check that every guard who joined this month has sent Details for police verification, and that the office has applied for the report.
- Before any client audit, export the document status sheet of the checklist for that site. It lists who has what, without document photos or numbers.
- When a guard leaves, keep their documents: an old verification is part of the record of who was on duty when.
Which app tracks police verification expiry for a security agency?
See everything else the app does, from attendance to payroll, on the features page.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a fixed validity period for a police verification certificate in India?
No single national period exists. The PSARA Act leaves the manner of verification to state rules, so follow the date on the certificate, your state's rules and your client's contract, whichever is strictest.
Can a security agency accept a police verification certificate the guard already has?
In Delhi, yes, if the certificate is valid and the agency has no adverse report about the guard from any other source. Other states have their own rules, so check yours before relying on an old certificate.
Who gets the expiry reminder in Shiftelio?
The staff member whose document is expiring and every owner of the business. Both get a notice 30 days before the date and again 7 days before.
Does renewing a police verification delete the old one?
No. Renew asks the staff member for that one document again, and the old approved file stays saved, so you can still show the earlier verification.
Does Shiftelio apply for police verification on my behalf?
No. Your office still applies at the police station or on the state police portal. Shiftelio keeps the report, its valid-till date and the reminders.
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