SBI Alleges False Biometrics Used To Generate Aadhaar Cards, UIDAI Rubbishes Claim

State Bank of India (SBI) officials have reportedly alleged that the UIDAI login and biometrics have been misused in several cases to generate Aadhaar cards. However, UIDAI authorities have countered that charge stating that the Aadhaar system is completely secure and that no security breach has taken place, reported The Times Of India.

Just like other banks, SBI too was given an Aadhaar enrolment target for which the public lender chose vendors, namely FIA Technology Services Pvt Ltd and Sanjivini Consultants Private Limited. This was to cover the Chandigarh area comprising Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.

However, the daily reported that out of nearly 250 operators who have been employed by these two companies, almost half were penalised or deactivated or penalised over the last two months. While this brought the bank’s Aadhaar enrolment process to a halt at many of its branches, the bank was forced to face penalties as it missed out on the target.

Conflicting Claims

The UIDAI authorities penalised one 40-year-old Aadhaar operator, Vikram of Rs 33 lakh, as according to them, Vikram had used his operator ID to shell out Aadhaar cards with bogus documents between a stipulated number of days last year. Reportedly, the act was carried out by using “multiple station IDs” in the perpetrator’s name. Each device used for Aadhaar enrolment is registered with the UIDAI and are identified using a “Station ID.”

However, the SBI officials stated that only they could have approved multiple station IDs which they did not do. In this regard, the SBI officials have written to the corporate office in Mumbai to bring the issue to notice. SBI deputy general manager B Rajendra Kumar told the daily, “We have, through our corporate office in Mumbai, raised this issue with UIDAI. The authority should be more transparent with us and let us know how this is happening. They should also guide us on the issue and, above all, make their database more secure.”

It was also found that Vikram’s own biometrics were misused to carry out unexplained transactions at different places like the IT Department or Maharashtra and the MP Governments, several banks as well as his personal bank accounts. However, while all this was happening, the UIDAI authorities did not act against any bank official as is the case in other cases.

Moreover, an internal inquiry conducted by SBI as well as the vendor has cleared Vikram of all the charges that have been levelled against him by the UIDAI. Meanwhile, the UIDAI has cleared all operators apart from Vikram and on January 9 has also introduced another step in registration which adds more security.

Also Read: Aadhaar Biometrics Cannot Be Used To Identify Unidentified Dead Bodies: UIDAI To Delhi High Court