No service can be denied over lack of Aadhaar

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) reiterated on Saturday that no essential service or benefit should be denied to a genuine beneficiary for the want of Aadhaar, whether it is medical help, hospitalisation, school admission or ration through Public Distribution System (PDS).

"Aadhaar is meant to bring transparency and accountability in public service deliveries through effective use of technology and it should not be misused and made an excuse to any denial in the services," a statement from UIDAI read.

This comes after certain cases of denying of such services were reported when the beneficiaries failed to furnish their Aadhaar card.

"If one does not have Aadhaar or if Aadhaar online verification is not successful due to some reason, the agency or department has to provide the service as per Section 7 of Aadhaar Act, 2016," the statement further elaborated.

In the circular issued by UIDAI on October 24, 2017, and Cabinet Secretariat on December 19, 2017, detailed guidelines were provided for extending benefits to beneficiaries who do not possess Aadhaar or in cases where Aadhaar authentication is not successful due to any reason.

In accordance with Section 7 of the act, authorities were also advised to use alternate means of identification and record them in exception registers, to be audited periodically by the higher authorities.

In this regard, UIDAI is again writing a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all the States/Union Territories to ensure that Section 7 of Aadhaar Act, 2016 is implemented in its true letter and spirit for all the schemes at the ground level and in-service delivered to beneficiaries.

If any official of a department denies a service for the lack of Aadhaar or lack of successful verification due to technical or any such reasons, a complaint can also be lodged with the higher authorities of those departments for such unlawful denials, the UIDAI stated.