The State government is actively working on making Aadhaar authentication mandatory for availing any benefit, subsidy or service for schemes funded by the Consolidated Fund of the State in line with the circular issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The development follows the amendment made to Section 7 of the Aadhaar (Targeted delivery of financial and other subsidies, benefits and services) Act 2016, stipulating a condition that the State government can mandate use of Aadhaar authentication for beneficiaries for receipt of a subsidy, benefit or service for which the expenditure is incurred from the consolidated fund.
The government has accordingly asked the departments to direct the officials concerned to identify schemes for use of Aadhaar where ‘benefits’ are given to ‘individuals’ and ensure that these schemes fulfil the criteria of being eligible under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act in line with the judgment given by the Supreme Court.
Thereafter, a draft notification for the specific scheme should be prepared by the department implementing it and vetted by the legal department before publishing it. The departments should however keep in mind Section 3A (3) of Aadhaar and other Laws (Amendment) Act 2019, wherein a child should not be denied any benefit, subsidy or service for failure to establish his/her identity by undergoing authentication or furnishing proof of possession of Aadhaar number. Accordingly, an additional paragraph is required to be inserted as per Section 3A (3) in case children are beneficiaries under any scheme.
In the guidelines issued recently, the government quoted how the notification released by the Higher Education Department of Odisha government in respect of four educational scholarship/loan schemes was found not fully compliant with the structure of Section 7 template. The department had also not followed the suggested steps of getting the notification published in the gazette. All departments using Aadhaar to deliver benefit, subsidy or service in schemes funded out of consolidated fund are requested to complete the process at the earliest so that a proper legal backing is available, the circular said.