Exclusive: Dogs, Trees And Chairs have 'Aadhaar Cards'

By Khaja Pasha / Bangalore

In hilarious slip-ups in the Aadhaar card enrolment process, some cards have ended up with pictures of an empty chair, a tree or a dog instead of the actual applicants in Karnataka.

Asked about the cases, where data collected from applicants were not reflected on the cards, Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) deputy director general Ashok Dalwai said no system was foolproof. "There have been some errors," he said.
"We had even come across an empty chair printed as the applicant's photo on an Aadhaar card. This could have happened due to the operator's mistake. We look for accuracy in the fingerprints and photograph. The operator might have copied a wrong photo, but it may have matched only because of a lack of clarity. To avoid such errors, we have in place another team to go through the printed Aadhaar cards, to check for manual duplication."

Acknowledging slip-ups in the Aadhaar enrolment process, UIDAI deputy director general Ashok Dalwai told INN there have been cases where an operator's fingerprints had been registered instead of the applicant's. "This could have happened while the operator was guiding the applicant on where and how to put his finger during data enrolment," he said.

"We have four attempts in which the right data has to be fed into the system. In some cases, the operators have registered their own fingerprints by mistake," he added.

In such cases, Aadhaar enrolment is rejected and the applicant informed about the rejection. Such applicants have to undergo fresh enrolment.

Dalwai said no one should apply more than once for an Aadhaar card unless he/she receives a rejection letter from the UIDAI. "Please don't reapply for the card," he said. "The applicant can reapply only in the case of rejection of the accuracy of data and only on getting a rejection letter. Otherwise, it's a waste of time for us and the applicant."