Aadhaar made mandatory for death certificates

Applicants will have to provide Aadhaar number of deceased for obtaining death certificates from October 1 this year, a move the government said will help in preventing identity fraud.
 
The notification issued by Registrar General India (RGI) under Ministry of Home Affairs to make Aadhaar mandatory comes amid privacy advocates launching a campaign against Aadhaar and fighting a case in Supreme Court over extending the use of the Unique Identification Scheme for government programmes.
 
This will come into effect in states in October except in Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Meghalaya. The dates for these three states would be notified separately.
 
Applicant's Aadhaar number shall also be collected along with the Aadhaar number of the spouse or parents. If an applicant is not aware of the Aadhaar number or Enrolment ID Number (EID) of the deceased, he will have to provide a certificate that the deceased person does not possess Aadhaar number to the best of his knowledge and it should be duly informed.
 
The MHA said the use of Aadhaar would help in ensuring the accuracy of the details provided by relatives or dependants or acquaintances of the deceased.
 
"It will provide an effective method to prevent identity fraud. It will also help in recording the identity of the deceased person. Further, it will obviate the need for producing multiple documents to prove the identity of the deceased person," the MHA said in a statement.
 
To make Aadhaar mandatory, the RGI has invoked the Section 3(3) of the Registration of Birth and Death Act 1969 and said that Aadhaar number will be required for the purpose of establishing the identity of the deceased for the purpose of death registration.
 
As per the procedure, an applicant applying for a death certificate is required to provide Aadhaar number or Enrolment ID Number (EID) of the deceased and other details as sought in the application for a death certificate for the purpose of establishing the identity of the deceased.
 
Any false declaration given by the applicant will be treated as an offence as per the provisions of the Aadhaar Act 2016 and Registration of Birth and Death Act 1969.
 
According to the statement, Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act 2016 permits the use of Aadhaar number for establishing the identity of an individual for any purpose pursuant to any law or any contract to this effect.