The Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) announced in a circular on Tuesday (January 16), that they have removed Aadhaar card from the list of acceptable documents as proof of date of birth. This step by EPFO was taken after receiving a directive from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) (Circular No. 08 of 2023) asking to delete Aadhaar from the list of documents accepted as date of birth proof.
"Removal of Aadhaar from the list of acceptable documents as a Date of Birth Proof. In this connection, a letter has been received from UIDAI, wherein it has been stated that the use of Aadhaar as proof of DoB needs to be deleted from the list of acceptable documents. Accordingly, the Aadhaar is being removed from the list of acceptable documents for correction in date of birth as mentioned in Table-B of Annexure -1 of the JD SOP under reference," reads an EPFO circular.
As per the UIDAI’s Directive, the agency noted that several beneficiaries were accepting Aadhaar as proof of date of birth, including EPFO. However, according to the Aadhaar Act 2016, Aadhaar serves as a distinctive identification proof, but it is not recognised as proof of date of birth.
After UIDAI’s directive, the EPFO, under the Ministry of Labour and Employment in the Government of India, removed Aadhaar from the list of acceptable documents for correcting the date of birth. The EPFO circular further highlighted that Aadhaar’s removal pertained to Table B of Annexure-1 of the Joint Declaration SOP issued previously.
Here is the list of valid documents for date of birth proof as per EPFO guidelines:
- People can submit the birth certificate issued by the Registrar of Births and Deaths.
- People can submit marksheet issued by any recognised Government University or Board.
- School Leaving Certificate (SLC)/ School Transfer Certificate (TC)/ SSC certificate containing Name and Date of Birth are also acceptable as valid date of birth proofs.
- Certificate based on the service records are also acceptable by EPFO.
- People can also submit PAN card.
- The Central/ State Pension Payment order can also be given as proof of date of birth.
- A domicile Certificate issued by the government is also acceptable.
- EPFO also accepts a medical certificate issued by a civil surgeon after examining the candidate medically and supported with an affidavit on oath by the member duly authenticated by a Competent Court.