EPFO removes Aadhaar as proof of date of birth in line with UIDAI’s directive and legal stance on Aadhaar’s limitations. UIDAI emphasizes Aadhaar for identity verification, not proof of birth. EPFO members and entities involved in date of birth corrections should take note.
EPFO has issued a circular regarding the elimination of Aadhaar from the list of acceptable or valid DOB proofs in line with the UIDAI advisory, thereby making changes to its Standard Operating Procedures on Joint Declaration/Streamlining of Work Areas/Joint Declaration dated August 22, 2023.
EPFO has mentioned in its circular that they received a letter from the UIDAI stating that the use of Aadhaar as proof of date of birth needs to be removed from the list of acceptable documents.
Accordingly, Aadhaar is being taken off the list of valid documents for correcting the date of birth as outlined in Table B of Annexure 1 of the Joint Declaration SOP referenced above.
Recently, the UIDAI wrote a letter on 22/12/2023 to EPFO on the subject of accepting Aadhaar as proof of date of birth.
The UIDAI noticed that authorized user agencies and KYC user agencies are considering and accepting an Aadhaar card or e-Aadhaar as acceptable proof of date of birth.
The UIDAI explained that Aadhaar is a unique 12-digit ID given to a resident after they complete enrollment by providing their demographic and biometric data. Once a resident is assigned an Aadhaar number, it can be used to verify their identity through various methods as described under the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and related regulations.
During enrollment or update, the UIDAI records the date of birth as stated by the resident, based on the documents submitted by them from the list of supporting documents for Aadhaar enrollment available on the UIDAI website.
Additionally, Regulations 10(4) and 19A of the Aadhaar (Enrollment and Update) Regulations, 2016, mention that verification of enrollment and update data will be performed as outlined in Schedule III.
In this context, UIDAI has drawn attention to the Office Memorandum dated 20/12/2018, issued by MeitY through UIDAI, which stated that “An Aadhaar number can be used to confirm the identity of an individual subject to authentication and therefore is not by itself proof of date of birth.”
UIDAI has further stated that this aspect of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 has been reiterated and emphasized by different high courts in various judgments.
In view of the above, the UIDAI has recommended ceasing the use of Aadhaar as proof of date of birth and removing it from the list of acceptable documents.
EPFO Circular dated 16/01/2024: Aadhaar is not to be accepted as DOB proof