Telangana: Banks give citizens tough time over Aadhaar linking

Hyderabad: Banks are creating an issue with customers who do not have their full names printed on their Aadhaar cards and are refusing to link their accounts with their Aadhaar numbers. A senior citizen from Ranigunj had a major face-off with a bank employee when his Aadhaar card was not accepted. “My name is Chandra Krishna Gowtham Rao, but in the Aadhaar card it is printed as C. K Gowtham Rao. My bank is not accepting my application as my card does not have my full name. I have been their customer for over 15 years now. Despite being known to the banker, they are refusing to link my Aadhaar card with my account. The bank refused to link my daughter’s card too since the card reflected C. G Shruti, instead of her full name.”  

Another bank customer, Mr Vijay has written a letter to a newspaper complaining, “I hold an account at Kotak Mahindra Bank,  Ameerpet branch. I submitted my original Aadhaar card along with a photocopy. The bank staff is refusing to accept my Aadhaar copy because it does not have my full name. The first part of the name has only an initial. My account was opened prior to the introduction of   Aadhaar. It was normal then to use an initial representing the first part of the name.” 

Senior citizens specially are extremely disturbed about the banks’ adamant stance. “When every other credential is matching why are they being so difficult”, asked an exasperated senior citizen who has made several trips to his bank to get his Aadhaar linked to his bank account. One of the bankers explained, “The technology designed and used by banks does not accept Aadhaar cards that do not match with the name mentioned in the bank account. Even if the staffer accepts this, the system will reject the linkage. Customers are being asked to change the name according to that of the bank account.”

When this was brought to the notice of The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) authorities, Mr. Rami Reddy, regional deputy director, Aadhaar Card, said, “Banks have to accept ID cards with or without name expansion. So far, we haven’t received such complaints, but this will be seriously taken up with banks. This move will not be accepted. If they need more authentication, banks can verify the fingerprint registered with the UIDAI but they cannot deny linkage. Banks should not demand expansion of full name.”

Meanwhile another bank customer, Mr Phaneendra V., pointed out that in many cases such a linkage already existed. “The customer’s PAN number is already available with the banks, mutual fund houses, and stock brokers. PAN card details are mandatory for opening an account with any of these intermediaries. As of July 2017, many taxpayers have linked their PAN to Aadhaar. In such a situation, the government can simply go ahead and link all of them, without an explicit effort by the customer. This will save a lot of paper, customer’s time and the institutions’ time.”

Three ways to correct format in Aadhaar card

• A person can visit any of the permanent enrolment centres, (more than 700 established in  Telangana). The person can visit the office for a change in name and address, status of marriage, change in surname, with supporting documents or proof of the new format.
• Also, people can send the request to the Regional office—UIDAI, through post enclosing certified copies of the proof of new format. Changes such as misspelling, name expansion or even additions will be done.
• The third way would be to log on to the UIDAI website and select self-support update option and place a request.