New Delhi: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has excluded Aadhaar from the list of documents for verifying the date of birth (DoB). EPFO is part of the Ministry of Labour and Employment of India. Now you will have to provide some other document in its place. This move aligns with a directive from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the governing body responsible for Aadhaar.
According to UIDAI, several entities, including EPFO, treated Aadhaar as evidence of the date of birth (DoB). However, the governing body underscored that, although Aadhaar functions as a unique identifier, it does not meet the criteria for establishing the date of birth as per the Aadhaar Act, 2016.
“It is pertinent to mention that, Aadhaar is a unique 12 digit ID issued to a resident after he/she undergoes the enrolment process by submitting his/her demographic and biometric information. At the time of enrolment/updation, UIDAI records DoB as claimed by the resident, on the basis of the documents submitted by them, as specified under the list of supporting documents for Aadhaar enrolment, provided on the UIDAI website,” UIDAI said.
It mentioned an office memorandum dated December 20, 2018, issued by MeitY which stated that “An Aadhaar number can be used for establishing identity of an individual subject to authentication and thereby, per se it’s not a proof of date of birth.”
Following UIDAI’s position, the EPFO underscored that Aadhaar should not be regarded as evidence of the date of birth and emphasised its non-qualifying status in this regard, News18 reported. EPFO’s decision has received approval from the Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC).
