Aadhaar enrolment to stay: UIDAI chief

The UIDAI has said that the Supreme Court order restricting use of Aadhaar will have no bearing on enrolment and update services being carried out at banks, post offices and government premises. The move comes as service providers may still use offline verification tools that leverage the unique ID without authentication.

The apex court has ruled that Aadhaar is not mandatory for opening bank accounts, but the norms set for banks and post offices to undertake Aadhaar enrolment and updation activity will stay as these are different from authentication services, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) CEO, Ajay Bhushan Pandey told PTI. “As Aadhaar is going to be used in the offline mode, for opening bank accounts and other services, and because use of Aadhaar in Direct Benefit Transfer, Pan-ITR has also been held constitutional, the role of banks is going to be vital in the entire Aadhaar ecosystem. So, Aadhaar enrolment and update activity, undertaken by banks and post offices will continue as it was being done before,” Pandey said. Working on enrolment and update requests for Aadhaar is independent of authentication services, Pandey said.

Aadhaar is not mandatory to avail benefits for the first time under Ayushman Bharat but will be compulsory for those seeking treatment under the scheme for the second time. In case the Aadhaar is not available, beneficiaries have to at least provide documents to prove that they have enrolled for the 12-digit unique identity number, said Indu Bhushan, CEO of the National Health Agency, responsible for implementing the PMJAY.