The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), under the Ministry of Labour & Employment of the Government of India, issued a notification on May 17, 2024, addressing the settlement of physical claims without Universal Account Number (UAN) in specific circumstances. The notification responds to challenges faced by field offices in processing such claims, particularly in death cases, due to issues related to Aadhaar authentication.
Background
The notification references an earlier circular dated September 24, 2020, which provided guidelines for claim settlements without UAN. However, field offices reported difficulties in seeding and authenticating Aadhaar details in cases of death, leading to delays in the release of benefits. These difficulties include:
- Inaccurate or incomplete Aadhaar details for the deceased member.
- Unavailability of Aadhaar for pre-Aadhaar death cases.
- Deactivated Aadhaar accounts.
- Technical errors in validating Aadhaar from the UIDAI database.
Given these issues, and recognizing that Aadhaar details cannot be corrected or updated posthumously, the EPFO has decided to allow the processing of physical claims without Aadhaar seeding in certain death cases, subject to specific conditions.
Key Instructions
- Temporary Measure for Death Cases:
- Physical claims without Aadhaar seeding are allowed temporarily in death cases.
- Approval must be obtained from the Officer In Charge (OIC) via an e-office file.
- Detailed verification must confirm the membership of the deceased and the genuineness of the claimants.
- Actions of due diligence, as deemed fit by the OIC, are required to prevent fraudulent withdrawals.
- Scope of Application:
- These instructions apply only to cases where member details are correct in UAN but inaccurate or incomplete in the Aadhaar database.
- If Aadhaar data is correct but UAN data is inaccurate or incomplete, field offices must adhere to instructions from paragraphs 6.9 and 6.10 of the JD SOP version-2 dated March 26, 2024.
- The aim is to rectify UAN data, seed, and validate/authenticate Aadhaar in compliance with the previous circular from September 24, 2020.
Implementation and Compliance
The directive emphasizes the following:
- Field offices must follow due diligence and verification processes meticulously to avoid fraudulent claims.
- The approval of the OIC in an e-office file must include records of all verification steps undertaken.
- These measures are temporary and specific to cases where Aadhaar details cannot be corrected posthumously, ensuring beneficiaries receive timely benefits.
*****
EMPLOYEES’ PROVIDENT FUND ORGANISATION
MINISTRY OF LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Head Office
Bhavishya Nidhi Bhawan, 14. Bhikaiji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066
Website: https://www.epfindia.gov.in
No: WSU/2020/ClaimsettlementwithoutUAN-clarification(E25432)/1208 Dated: 17 MAY 2024
To
All ACC (HQ) Zones,
All ACC (Zones)
All Regional PF Commissioner/Officers-In Charge (All RO’s/DOs)
Sub: Settlement of physical claims without UAN-reg
Ref: Circular No WSU/2020/Claim settlement without UAN-clarification/914 dated 24.09.2020.
Madam/Sir,
With regard to the instructions issued vide the above circular, certain references have been received from the field offices intimating their inability to seed and authenticate Aadhaar in death cases due to inaccurate/incomplete Member details in Aadhaar, unavailability of Aadhaar in respect of pre-Aadhaar death cases, deactivated Aadhaar, technical error in validating Aadhaar from UIDAI database, etc. Further, the above said physical claims could not be processed by the Field Offices, leading to avoidable delay in the timely release of benefits to such beneficiaries.
In view of the difficulties being faced by the field offices and given the fact that Aadhaar details cannot be corrected/ updated after the death of the Member, it has been decided that henceforth, in all such death cases, processing of physical claims without seeding Aadhaar may be allowed as a temporary measure but ONLY with the due approval of the OIC in an e-office file duly recording the details of verification done to confirm the membership of the deceased and the genuineness of the claimants. This may be carried out among other actions of due diligence, as deemed fit by the OIC, so as to avoid any fraudulent withdrawals.
The above instructions would apply only to those cases where the details of the member are correct in UAN but inaccurate/incomplete in Aadhaar database. Wherever, the data in Aadhaar are correct but inaccurate/incomplete in UAN, the instructions issued in Para 6.9 and 6.10 of JD SOP version-2 dated 26.03.2024 will be strictly adhered to by the field offices to rectify the data in the UAN, seed & validate/authenticate the Aadhaar so as to comply with the instructions as issued in the earlier Circular dated 24.09.2020 vide reference, without any deviation whatsoever.
(This issues with the approval of CPFC)
MSKVV Satyanarayana
ACC, WSU
