To
Com. M Krishnan
General Secretary, AIPEU, Group-C, CHQ
Dada Ghosh Bhawan, New Delhi – 110 008
No.
UN-BN/AIPEU-Gr.-C/ 05 - 07/2013, Dated at Bhubaneswar the
19th July, 2013
Sub: Problems in accepting Aadhar Card as Address Proof for opening of
accounts under POSB Schemes and suggestion for modification of S B Order No. 14
/ 2012.
Dear Comrade,
As aware, the Department vide letter
No. 109-04/2007-SB, dated 23.04.2010 ( S B Order No. 8 / 2010 ) issued
guidelines for introduction of AML/CFT norms in Small Savings Schemes under
PMLA 2002 and the rules notified there under
according to which submission of recent photograph, address proof and
identity proof at the time of opening of any account under Post Office Savings
Schemes by the depositor(s) was made compulsory. Out of the documents
illustrated under Annexure A of the above S B Order for address / identity
proof, Electoral Photo Identity Card can be accepted as both address proof and
identity proof. Except for Customers falling under Category 3 (i.e. Account
opened or Certificates issued with amount above Rs.10 lakhs) and in case of
accounts opened on transfer from other offices, nothing has been instructed for
physical verification of the address particulars in the said order.
Subsequently,
a Master Circular was issued vide Directorate’s No. 109-04/2007-SB, dated 09.10.2012
( S B Order No. 14 / 2012 ) in supersession of all earlier S B Orders ( 8/2012,
10/2012 18/2012, 22/2012, 24/2012, 9/2011 & 2/2012) in connection with AML/CFT where in the
Electoral Photo Identity Card was seen to be dropped from the list of documents
under Address Proof and the letter
issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India ( UIDAI) containing
details of name, address and Aadhaar number was included as one of the
documents for Address Proof for customers of all categories.
While S B Order 8 / 2010 had instructed
for verification of address particulars for customers falling under Category 3 ( i.e. Account
opened or Certificates issued with amount above Rs.10 lakh subsequently
categorized as High Risk Customers vide S B order No.14/2012) from State Govt./ Gram Panchayat / Postman of
that area before opening of account
including opening of account by transfer
from other office, there is no such provision under S B order 14/2012 for such
High Risk Customers except the instructions that the documents should be
self-attested or in case of illiterate depositors should be attested by
Gazetted Officer/Sarpanch/ Branch/Sub/Head/Chief Postmaster or Postman/Gram Dak
Sewak Delivery Agent. In case of investment through agent, these documents
should also be attested by the agent.
As witnessed, in most of the cases the
address particulars noted on the Aadhar Cards are incomplete and the post offices are
compelled to accept it as a proof of address for opening of accounts as per the
latest instructions issued above. No other organization in India knows better
than India Post the difficulties in delivering the Aadhar Cards due to
insufficient/incomplete address. Thousands of Aadhar Cards have been returned
and redirected by the Post Offices with such remarks also. The Aadhar Cards
indicate the address particulars given/declared by the citizen at the time of
registration without any verification and since the Government Savings Bank
Act, 1873 is extended to whole of India, any Indian citizen can submit this
Aadhar Card as a proof of address to open an account in any Indian Post Office
without any restriction to the current address of the depositor. While the
other documents listed/prescribed for address proof vide S B Order No. 14/2012
emphasize on current address, viz. Bank or Post Office Passbook/Statement with
current address, Passport with current address, Ration Card with current
Address, Electricity Bill of not more than three months old, Telephone Bill of
not more than three months old, Salary Slip of reputed Employer with current
address etc., the Aadhar Card remains with the old and single address always.
And the compulsion of the Post Office is that when a customer submits his/her
Aadhar Card as an address proof for opening of account, there remains no
justification to ask him/her for another address proof with current address.
Under such circumstances, the Post Office finds it difficult for correspondence
with the customer/depositor for any reason due to such old / incomplete /
insufficient address noted on the Aadhar Card on one hand and non-availability
of current address on the other. In case of any discrepancy, the condition of
the Post Office remains horrible for settlement due to failure in effective
communication with the depositor.
Therefore, it will certainly be better
if the Aadhar Card is dropped from the list of the documents shown under
Address Proof vide S B Order No.14/2012 and orders issued to accept the same
only for Identity Proof like Electoral Photo Identity Card which was earlier
introduced for Address Proof vide S B Order No. 8 / 2010 and subsequently
dropped from the list vide S B Order No.14/2012.
When India Post is heading towards
Core Banking Solution, this may be accepted as a constructive suggestion to
help the Post Office for early settlement of S B discrepancies.
As such, it is requested to appraise
the Directorate accordingly for modification of S B Order No. 14 / 2012 in
deleting the Aadhar Card from the list of documents shown under Address Proof
and accepting the same as Identity Proof only with request to issue necessary
clarificatory orders to accept any other document listed there in bearing
current address of the depositor as Address Proof.
With greetings.
Comradely yours,
B Samal.
Divisional Secretary
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