Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said that it is not mandatory for former central government employees to have Aadhaar – India’s 12-digit biometrics-based unique identification number – to avail of their pension, PTI reported. Singh made these comments at the 30th meeting of the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies in New Delhi recently, according to the news agency.
The minister clarified that Aadhaar was a facility that pensioners could use to submit life certificates without having to visit banks. A life certificate is a document that pensioners are required to submit to their banks every November to ensure that they will continue to get their pension.
In April, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation had asked banks not to deny pensions to those who do not have an Aadhaar number or whose biometrics cannot be verified. A few pensioners have complained about being denied their pension over the lack of an Aadhaar card or a failed Aadhaar fingerprint authentication process.
On May 9, Supreme Court Justice DY Chandrachud, who was part of a bench that just concluded hearing a batch of petitions challenging Aadhaar’s constitutional validity, said that failures in the card’s authentication could create problems for those in need. He gave the example of his mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, who had to provide a thumb impression every month to get her pension.
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