The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Tuesday issued a Gazette notification that makes nod of beneficiaries must for changing their subsidy-receiving bank account.
The UDAI notification asked the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to immediately disable the override feature on the APB (Aadhaar Payment Bridge) mapper.
The notification has been issued after the complaints of certain telecom service providers and banks opening a new bank account of the Aadhaar holder and putting that bank account on NPCI's APB mapper overriding the existing bank account mapping without the consent of the Aadhaar holder.
As a result many Aadhaar holders complained that their subsidy, particularly of LPG gas (PAHAL), is not being credited in their designated bank account.
As per the extant instructions, every bank has to obtain express consent of the individual before putting his bank account on the mapper. Non-compliance of these instructions at the ground level is leading to aforesaid complaints and inconvenience to account holders.
As per the notification, "NPCI shall allow override request pertaining to an Aadhaar holder only if it is accompanied by the name of his current bank on the APB mapper and confirmation from the requesting bank that it has obtained the requisite consent of the Aadhaar holder for switching to the requesting bank on the mapper. Till above is implemented, NPCI shall disable the override feature on the APB mapper immediately."
It further adds: "Banks shall send request for mapping of a new account or overriding an existing bank account to NPCI only after taking explicit informed consent of their customers. Banks shall inform each account holder through SMS and email within 24 hours that a request has been sent to NPCI to put his bank account on the mapper or, as the case may be, to change his bank account on the NPCI mapper."
The UIDAI says that in case a beneficiary does not want to put his/her new bank account on the mapper, then the customer should be provided a methodology to reverse this mapping.
The notification also says if a customer does not have email or mobile number then his/her physical signature on a paper consent form should be obtained prior to sending the request to NPCI mapper.
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