Dhoni case: UIDAI sensitises agencies on celebrity enrolments

To avoid a repeat of Dhoni-like episodes, the UIDAI has instructed the staff of its enrolment agencies to resist the urge of posing for selfies with celebrities or retaining their Aadhaar details. It also emphasised that personal preferences should be kept separate from official duties.

The instruction follows the public sharing of Aadhaar details of ace cricketer M S Dhoni after some photos were tweeted by the CSC E-Governance handle, including one capturing his personal details in the form of his Aadhaar acknowledgement slip.

Swinging into action, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has reached out to its regional offices to, in turn, sensitise enrolment agencies to “strictly” adhere to the rules of enrolment, even as the erring operator has been blacklisted.

“We are sensitising all our operators and agencies to strictly follow the norms while enrolling such individuals…and not to mix enrolment operation with personal likes and dislikes…or get into the personal domain like clicking a selfie,” UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey told PTI.
Pandey’s advice to the enrolment agencies: “Please don’t be enthusiastic… this is an official business, so limit the activity to official business and if they want to do that (click photos)… they can meet the celebrity after office hours.”

UIDAI has blacklisted the Village Level Entrepreneur who had enrolled Dhoni for leaking Aadhaar receipt which carried his personal information. UIDAI is the nodal body responsible for rolling out Aadhaar, the 12-digit unique identification number that identifies residents based on biometrics.

Pandey conceded that in the particular incident, the operator “in his enthusiasm” got his photo clicked with Dhoni and also took a picture of the acknowledgement slip. “First, taking the picture should not have been allowed. This is a controlled process and taking selfie should not have happened, and Mr Dhoni also should not have allowed it because it is a government process. Of course, we have taken action against the operator, that the operator should not have done this,” he said.

Pandey said he would also advise individuals enrolling for Aadhaar to decline such requests. “We will also request people who are getting enrolled that this is a serious official visit. At least, during the process, please strictly conform to the norms and if someone requests for a copy of the receipt or operator requests for selfie, they should deny it,” he said.

As per the latest update, more than 113 crore Aadhaar IDs have been generated in the country and Aadhaar authentications have crossed the 500 crore mark, while 100 crore e-KYCs have been done on the platform.