Now, Aadhaar-based biometric attendance must to draw salary

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 10

The authorities today announced that the government officers and officials would be paid salary from March onwards only if they have enrolled themselves for the Aadhaar-based biometric system.

The order followed the February 7 decision of the State Administrative Council that all government offices in Jammu and Kashmir would have Aadhaar-based biometric attendance system in position by March 31 this year. The council was constituted by Governor NN Vohra on February 4.

The authorities, while issuing the detailed guidelines, said it was being done “to ensure punctuality in the government offices and establishments, hassle-free and leakage-free distribution of benefits to various sections of the public and to promote transparency and efficiency in the government system.”

“No salary or wages would be drawn in favour of the government employees of any category from March 2016 onwards unless they have enrolled themselves in the Aadhaar-based biometric system. It applies also to the public-sector undertaking employees, contractual, consolidated, casual workers or any other type of persons drawing wages in any form from the public exchequer,” said a General Administration Department (GAD) order.

It said it would be the duty of the Drawing and Disbursing Officers concerned to ensure enrolment in the system before March 31 and furnish a certificate for it along with the salary or wage bill presented in the Treasury, without which the treasury officers are directed not to entertain any salary or wage bill.

“From April 1 onwards, the marking of attendance in the system would be compulsory for all categories of employees and wage earners,” the order said.

The order also covered pensioners of the state, saying: “All pensioners are also required to enrol themselves by obtaining the Aadhaar number by March 31 as this would help them to digitally identify themselves in future at the nearest common service centre, Khidmat Centre or any other place having the system installed. They would not be required to physically present themselves before the prescribed authorities to prove that they are alive. This initiative is being undertaken as part of the Jeevan Parnam Scheme.”

The order said all persons drawing benefits like old-age pension, widow pension, student scholarship, stipend, honorarium, wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or any other similar cash benefits from the government would need to enrol themselves in the Aadhaar-based biometric system initially and mark their continued eligibility, periodically, as decided by the department concerned by presenting and marking before the authority concerned.

“The departmental officers concerned will be responsible for getting enrolled all such beneficiaries in the system for their identification, without which they would not draw any benefit after April 1,” it said, adding that all administrative secretaries, heads of the departments and the Deputy Commissioners will be responsible for compliance of the instructions.