Justice K.S.Puttaswamy(Retd) vs Union Of India on 26 September, 2018 Modality Unique UID Failed Unique ID Failed Percentage Participated IRIS 1,08,50,391 9,27,132 8.54% FINGER 61,63,63,346 3,69,62,619 6.00% It must be stated that authentication failures do not mean exclusion or denial from subsidies, benefits or services since the requesting entities are obliged under the law to provide for exception handling mechanisms. (2) In case a person who is claiming a biometric exception (e.g. a person suffering from leprosy) does not have a mobile phone number, or has not given it in the enrolment form, or if the phone number changes how will her Aadhaar enrolment and subsequent authentication occur and under which provision of law? Ans.: Aadhaar enrolment is done for all residents, even of residents with leprosy. Biometric exception process is defined in the UIDAI resident enrolment process. In the case of a leprosy patient, who may not be able to do fingerprint authentication, iris authentication can be used for update (and add the mobile number). This was the reason for multi-modal enrolment and authentication being selected for use in Aadhaar. Only in an unlikely scenario where both iris and fingerprint cannot be used for authentication, the mobile number is one of the methods for authentication. In cases where authentication through mobile number is not possible or feasible, the requesting entities have to provide their own exception and backup mechanism to ensure services to Aadhaar holders. As part of the exception handling mechanism, UIDAI has already implemented a digitally signed QR code into e-Aadhaar which allows agencies to verify the Aadhaar card in an off-line manner and trust the data (based on digital signature validation) without accessing e-KYC API service of UIDAI. This is a simple off-line mechanism to quickly verify the legitimacy of the Aadhaar card. But, it does not ensure that the person holding the card is the owner of that Aadhaar number. It needs either manual check of photo against the face of the individual (like the way ID is verified at the entry of airports) or some form of electronic authentication using Aadhaar authentication API or agency specific authentication scheme. QR code based verification allows Aadhaar number holders to use their ID on a day-to-day purpose without using online e-KYC authentication. The verification through offline QR code can be used for those purposes or cases where proof of presence or proof of ownership of card is not required. The Aadhaar Act and Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations, 2016 define special provision for enrolment of residents with biometric exception. Further, as per Regulation 14(i) of the Authentication Regulations, RE shall implement exception-handling mechanisms and backup identity authentication mechanisms to ensure seamless provision of authentication services to Aadhaar number holders. Accordingly, DBT Mission Cabinet Secretariat has issued a detailed circular dated December 19, 2017 regarding exception handling during use of Aadhaar in the benefit schemes of the Government. (3) Are there any surprise checks, field studies done to check the authenticity of the exemption registers? Ans.: As per Regulation 14(i) of the Authentication Regulations, this exception handling mechanism is to be implemented and monitored by the requesting entities and in case of the Government, their respective Ministries. Further, the DBT Mission Cabinet Secretariat had issued Circular dated December 19, 2017 on exception handling and Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/127517806/ 32