The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has said that Aadhaar cards will no longer be accepted as a valid proof of date of birth. The decision, communicated through a circular on Tuesday, has received approval from the Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC) and follows a directive from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
UIDAI’s directive highlighted that while Aadhaar serves as a unique identifier, it is not recognised as proof of date of birth according to the Aadhaar Act, 2016. EPFO has, therefore, removed Aadhaar from the list of acceptable documents for correcting date of birth, specifically in Table-B of Annexure-1 of the Joint Declaration SOP issued earlier.
The EPFO will modify its application software to align with the updated guidelines, with the Internal System Division (ISD) responsible for making the necessary changes. The circular instructs all zonal and regional offices of EPFO to ensure widespread implementation of these latest guidelines.
Recent court judgements, including one by the Bombay High Court, have supported the view that Aadhaar cannot be considered as proof of date of birth.
For EPFO, the following documents are considered valid proof of date of birth:
A birth certificate issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths
Marksheet issued by any recognised government body or university
School Leaving Certificate (SLC), School Transfer Certificate (TC), or SSC certificate containing name and date of birth
Certificate based on the service records
PAN card
Central/State Pension Payment Order
Domicile Certificate issued by the Government
A medical certificate was issued by the civil surgeon after examining the member medically and was supported by an affidavit on oath duly authenticated by a competent court.
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