Tarini Puri, TNN Jul 3, 2013, 04.40AM IST
PUNE: If the ministry of external affairs (MEA) has its way, passport officials across the country will soon have access to the passport applicants' Aadhaar information for the purpose of processing their applications.
Top officials of the MEA and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) are expected to meet in New Delhi on Friday to work out the finer details of a plan for use of Aadhaar information in passport processing work.
The move assumes significance considering that under the prevailing system, Aadhaar is recognised as an address and identity proof only when it is accompanied by other prescribed documents like driving licence, power bills or voter ID cards etc.
However, the MEA plan can ensure better acceptability of Aadhaar as a proof of the applicant's identity and address.
Speaking to TOI on Tuesday, Anil Kumar Sobti, director of the passport division in the MEA, said they are working on the technicalities that would allow for the extraction of data from the passport applicant's Aadhaar number furnished by a person at the time of submission of documents. "We will hold a meeting with UIDAI officials soon to ascertain how best to extract information from the Aadhaar number for the process of cross-verification of the applicant's particulars, as furnished by him/her for issuance of a passport," he said.
Explaining how the system could work in future, Sobti said that the data furnished by a citizen seeking a passport would be matched with that entered in his Aadhaar enrolment. "If an applicant has an Aadhaar number, then officials granting the passport may enter that number in the database to extract or cross verify his identity and other particulars," he said.
In the current system, the Aadhaar card or UIDAI's verification letter containing the 12-digit Aadhaar number is accepted as proof of address (PoA) and photo identity (PoI) only in conjunction with any other prescribed documents for proof of address/identity for the purpose of passport application.
Admitting that the conditions required for issuance of Aadhaar number, which makes even foreign nationals eligible for it, albeit subject to certain criteria (see box), Sobti said the passport division was going to discuss and deliberate on all issues before rolling out the new system. "The officials of the two divisions are going to have a detailed interaction to thrash out the issue and eliminate all lacunae," he said.
The matter would be dealt with at the technical level, before it gets a final nod from the minister, so it could mean some time before the system is finally
rolled out for the citizens, Sobti said.