After several cases of denial of services due to lack of Aadhar card, there have been instances as harsh as death for those who do not have the card. Taking this in consideration, 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.
"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, reported ANI.
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.?