Rush to link Aadhaar-PAN

THE COMMON problems with the Aadhaar cards — which they had ignored for long — were spelling errors in names, surnames and date of birth

With the June 30 deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar and PAN cards ending in a day, many people rushed to get their documents in order at the Aadhaar enrolment centres.

The common problems with the Aadhaar cards — which they had ignored for long — were spelling errors in names, surnames and date of birth. Brokers were cashing in on the demand by collecting money to get their work done.

To link Aadhaar and PAN, the name and date of birth should match on both documents. Even if there is a single error, the online system rejects the linkage and asks users to update details either on Aadhaar or PAN card.

It is easier to get the Aadhaar data corrected at enrolment centres than those on the PAN cards.

Women faced more problems than men in this regard due to change in surnames after marriage.

“I took the PAN card before marriage and enrolled for Aadhaar after marriage. I have my original surname on PAN card but my husband’s surname on the Aadhaar card. When I tried to link the PAN number with Aadhaar, the system rejected it citing variation in name. Now I need to update either PAN or Aadhaar, which is a cumbersome process,” said, Ms P. Shirisha, an employee in a private firm. Besides the change in surname, her name was spelt as ‘Shirisha’ on the PAN card and ‘Shireesha’ on Aadhaar.