For now, Aadhaar not needed for pension withdrawals: EPFO

For now, you will not be required to submit your Aadhaar details should you wish to withdraw part of your accumulated pension under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS).In a directive issued with the approval of the Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC) on Tuesday, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has said that the requirement for providing Aadhaar details in EPS cases will be limited to settling monthly pension dues only.“It has been brought to the notice [of EPFO] that with the present instruction on mandatory obtaining Aadhaar number for settlement of pension cases, it is not possible to sanction withdrawal benefits claims in Form 10C also if Aadhaar no is not furnished," EPFO has said. "This has led to issues in settlement of withdrawal claims. The matter has been examined and in light of the above it has been decided that obtaining Aadhaar should be mandatory for the time being only for pension (10D claims) and not in withdrawal cases (Form 10C).” Form 10D is required to be submitted by a member of EPS (1995) scheme for claiming monthly pension, while Form 10C is submitted for availing withdrawal benefits from the corpus under the scheme.In a communication on January 31, the EPFO had conveyed to its offices that a member must furnish the Aadhaar number while submitting claims for EPS with effect from February 1, 2017. It was further informed that when a member has not been allotted an Aadhaar number, a copy of his/her Aadhaar enrolment ID slip should be submitted along with the claim form for settlement of claim under EPS, 1995. The instructions were issued in compliance with directions contained in gazette notification of January 4.It was also instructed that where a member neither has an Aadhaar number nor enrolled for it, the field office should provide facility within office premises for enrollment of Aadhaar number and the copy of the enrolment slip must be submitted in the claim form.