STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE FOR Aadhaar Services at Branch Post Offices (Ver 1.0)
Download Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Aadhaar Services in Branch Post Office (BO) in PDF
Government of India Ministry of Communications Department of Posts Business Development Directorate Issued on: 25 October 2023
1. Introduction
To leverage on the vast network of Department of Posts and to expand Aadhaar services to the remotest part of India, it is decided to extend Aadhaar services to the Branch Post Offices (BOs) by shifting idle Aadhaar Enrolment Kits (AEKS) to the identified & willing BOs. This strategic move not only enables generation of additional revenue for the Department of Posts but also ensures optimal utilization of the available AEKs. BOs will be allowed to provide all Aadhaar Services except New Aadhaar Enrolments and the newly introduced service of find Aadhaar & print Aadhaar.
2. Charges and Availability:
Charges for Aadhaar enrolment and Updation approved by UIDAI are given below along with availability details:
|
SL
No |
Aadhar Service at Branch Post Office |
Rate
of Assistance Paid to Registrar by UIDAI (in Rs.) |
Fee
collected from residents by Registrar/service provider (in Rs.) |
Remarks |
|
1 |
Aadhaar generation of residents in 0-5 age group |
50 |
Free of cost |
Not available at BOs |
|
2 |
Aadhaar generation of residents more than 5-year age |
100 |
Free of cost |
Not available at BOs |
|
3 |
Mandatory Biometric Update (05 to <07 years and 15 to >< 07 years and 15 to <17 years ) |
100 |
Free of cost |
Available at BOs |
|
4 |
Mandatory Biometric Update (07 to 15 years and more than 17 years) |
- |
100 |
Available at BOs |
|
5 |
Other Biometric update (with or without Demographic updates) |
- |
100 |
Available at BOs |
|
6 |
Demographic update (update of one or more fields) |
- |
50 |
Available at BOs |
|
7 |
Document Update at Aadhaar Centre |
- |
50 |
Available at BOs |
|
8 |
Aadhaar search usin eKYC / find Aadhaar and color print out |
- |
30 |
Not Available at BOs |
3. Eligibility & Educational Qualification: -
Aadhaar Centres at a Branch Post Office can be provided, if the following conditions are met:
(i) Willingness of Branch Post Master to do the Aadhaar related work through AEKs. The BPM shall submit a declaration in the form attached as Annexure ‘A’
(ii) If more than one BPM, under a HO/SO is willing to do Aadhaar related work, the senior most BPM will be allowed/authorized.
(iii) The distance between Active Aadhaar Centre and Branch Office should not be less than 5 Km.
(iv) The minimum educational qualification of BPM must be 12th pass.
(v) The BPM shall submit a self-attested 12th pass certificate & Marksheet in the concerned Divisional office to get authorization for running the Aadhaar centres. Self-attested copy of certificate and marksheet will be taken on record after having compared with original.
(vi) The minimum service of BPM must be three years.
(vii) The person should understand computer operation and should be comfortable with local language/English.
(viii) The person should have been enrolled for Aadhaar and his/her Aadhaar number should have been generated.
(ix) BPM has to qualify the UIDAlI Aadhaar operator eligibility test conducted by UIDAI & be duly certified by UIDAI (including Learning Management System (LMS) Certification by UIDAI) as fit to be on boarded as Operator.
4. Provision of Aadhaar Enrolments Kits: -
(i). Aadhaar Enrolments Kits such as Desktop, Iris & Biometric Scanner and Printer etc. lying idle in various Post offices will be relocated to the identified Branch Post Offices by the concerned Circles through Divisional Office.
(ii). Computer paper will be supplied by the concerned Divisional Office.
(iii). The Division Office would be empowered to relocate AEKs to BOs based on performance & business potential.
5. Provision of other infrastructure: -
Identified Branch Postmaster will provide: -
(i). Adequate space for setting up AEKs in Branch Post Office.
(ii). Provision of electricity and High-Speed internet and network connectivity.
(iii). Computer table and UPS (may be supplied by Circle through Division Office)
(iv). Seating arrangement for the public
(v). Adequate publicity and marketing (may be supported by Division Office)
6. Security and Safety of AEKs: -
(i). Identified Branch Postmaster will ensure security and safety of AEKs installed in the Branch Post Offices.
(ii). Branch Postmaster will be held responsible for any breach of security and safety of AEKs and recovery will be made from the concerned Branch Postmaster.
7. Remuneration Structure: -
Branch Postmaster will get remuneration for each Aadhaar activity from the Circle on a monthly basis through the account office. This remuneration will be made out of the Aadhaar revenue (assistance from UIDAI + upfront fee collection as tabulated in Para 2) received by the Circle. The activity wise remuneration rate structure to be paid to BPM is tabulated below:
|
Sl
No |
Service |
Remuneration
rate (Per transaction) in Rs |
|
1 |
Mandatory Biometric Update (05 to <07 years and 15 to >< 07 years and 15 to <17 years) |
42/- |
|
2 |
Mandatory Biometric Update (07 to 15 years and more than 17 years) |
42/- |
|
3 |
Other Biometric update (with or without Demographic updates) |
42/- |
|
4 |
Demographic update (update of one or more fields) |
21/- |
|
5 |
Document Update at Aadhaar Centre |
21/- |
NOTE: - Since remuneration will be paid in addition to TRCA, the Aadhaar related work will not be included in workload of BOs.
8. Fraudulent/Corrupt Practices:
If any complaint with regard to operators involved in any kind of corrupt/fraudulent practice is received in the Department, the Divisional Head will conduct an inquiry. Based upon the findings in the inquiry, necessary action will be taken against the concerned BPM as per the Departmental rules/instructions issued by the Department from time to time.
9. Penalty & Deductions:
(i) 50% of the penalties imposed by UIDAI for the errors committed by BPM will be recovered from concerned BPM.
(ii) The BPM shall submit a declaration in the form attached as Annexure ‘B’.
(iii) The list of Major errors being committed by the operators along with rates of penalty is attached as Annexure ‘C’ and penalty to be borne by BPM/ABPM is attached as Annexure ‘D’.
10. Training, exam and on boarding as Operator & Supervisor:
(i). Initial training of Aadhaar Services will be provided by UIDAI or Master Trainer of DoP.
(ii). On successful training, the BPM has to qualify the UIDAI Aadhaar operator eligibility test conducted by UIDAI. BPM acquiring 55% marks or above in the UIDAI Aadhaar operator eligibility test will be on boarded as operator and supervisor as per UIDAI's OM no. HQ- 16038/1/2020-EU-I-HQ dated 12.12.2021
(iii). Refresher Training from time to time needs to be provided to BPMs by the Division Office on necessary information/updation and to avoid errors which cause Penalties.
11. Working hours
(i). The BPM to work during business hours of Branch Post Office as notified by DoP from time to time.
(ii). However, remuneration in addition to TRCA will since be paid, BPM can be allowed to provide Aadhaar services at any time. BPM must ensure that the amount collected upfront from the customers is accounted for in the BO daily Account.
12. Operation and Reporting
(i). BPMs will carry out two kinds of Aadhaar transactions at BOs:
(a). Transactions such as Mandatory Biometric updates (07 to 15 years and more than 17 Years.), other biometric Updation, Demographic Updation and Document Update where amount is to be collected upfront from the Residents.
(b). Transactions such as mandatory biometric updates (05 to < 07 years and 15 to < 17 years) which is free of cost for residents but payment will be made by UIDAI to the Circle later on.
(ii) Concerned BPM will do the Aadhaar operation as per process laid down in UIDAI's guideline and SOP provided by the BD directorate vide letter no. 36-15/2017-BD& MD (Pt lll) dated 18.10.2018 (Copy attached).
(iii) BPM will collect charges from the customer as laid out at point 2 of this document.
(iv) The amount collected will be taken on the receipt side of the BO Daily Account and will be submitted to the Account Office concerned. The daily report as per table 1 will also be maintained in the daily report register at BO.
(v) On receipt of daily account from all BOs under the jurisdiction of HO/SO. APM/SPM after checking the amount, will book the amount in correct Head of Account as per Standard Accounting Procedure (SAP) (to be prepared)
(vi) At end of the week, BPM will generate a consolidated report for the transactions done during the week from UIDAI ECMP Client and submit the report to HO/SO, as the case may be.
(vii) On receipt of weekly reports from BPM: -
(a) If Account Office of BO is SO then SPM will tally the consolidated amount shown in the ECMP client weekly report received from BO with the consolidated amount taken in the BO summary for the concerned week. Thereafter, SO will prepare BO wise transaction report in excel format on a weekly basis as per table 2 (given below) and send its copy to the Account office (i.e. HO/GPO) duly entered in SO Daily Account along with the weekly report (generated from UIDAI ECMP client) received from BO.
(b) If the Account Office of BO is HO/GPO then the process at para (viii) below will be followed. Table 2: BO Aadhaar Transaction Report (Weekly)
(viii) HO/GPO will consolidate the weekly reports (in Excel format as given below) received from SOs and weekly reports of BOs (received directly from BOs under its jurisdiction) in following format not later than 15% of each month and submit a copy to Divisional Office and nodal account office of Circle (where UIDAI assistance is received) after reconciling with UIDAI Enrolment client report submitted by BO.
13. Payment to BPM:
(i) UIDAI from time to time will pay the remuneration for mandatory Updation (05 to < 07 years and 15 to < 17 years). At present the amount is getting credited to the bank account of Circle GPOs. (referred as “nodal account office of Circle”).
(ii) Circle office will also obtain Operator wise penalty report from RO UIDAI and share a copy of the penalty report with Nodal Account
(iii) Each account office of the Circle will submit a copy of monthly BO Aadhaar transaction report (Table 3) to the nodal account office of Circle.
(iv) On receipt of payment from UIDAI, nodal account office of Circle will calculate remuneration of BPMs of each account office of the Circle based on the monthly BO Aadhaar transaction report (column D of table 3).
(v) Nodal account office of the Circle apportions the remuneration to all the account offices of the Circles and make a report in following format
(vi) The Nodal Account Office will send copy of above report (table 4) to all the concerned account offices with a copy to Circle Office for information.
(vii) A copy of the penalty report (Operator id wise) will also be sent to all
(viii) concerned account offices along with report mentioned above. On receipt of report as per table 4 from Nodal Account Office, Account Office will calculate the remuneration/recovery to/from BPM as mentioned in para ‘7’ and ‘9’ above and prepare a report in the below noted format within 5 days of receipt of report from Nodal Account Office:
(ix) APM will submit the above report (Table 5) for the approval of competent authority*.
In case of Gazetted HO/GPO, Sr. Postmaster is competent to accord approval for payment/recovery.
In case of Non-Gazetted HO, Divisional Head is competent to accord for payment/recovery.
(x) On receipt of approval from the competent authority, Postmaster of the Account Office will credit net amount (Col. J of table 5) in the account of the concerned BPM or recover the amount (Col. K of table
5) from the TRCA of the BPM after observing the rules/instructions of recovery from TRCA issued by Department from time to time.
14. Role of Branch Post Office
(i) Provide Aadhaar updation services
(ii) Take the amount collected for Aadhaar transactions on the receipt side of BO Daily Account.
(iii) Maintenance of daily report (as per table 1) in the register.
(iv). Sending weekly RCMP client report to Account Office on Monday following the week of Aadhaar work done.
15. Role of Accounts Office: -
(A) SO:
(i). Collection and maintenance of weekly ECMP client reports from BOs.
(ii). Booking of amount collected upfront by the BO in correct Head of Account in SAP and show it in receipt side of SO Daily Account.
(iii). Preparing the weekly BO Aadhaar transaction reports as per ‘Table 2.
(iv). Sending of weekly BO Aadhaar transaction reports along with UIDAI Enrolment client to concerned HO/GPO.
(B) HO/GPO
(i). Collection and maintenance of weekly reports from BOs.
(ii). Booking of amount collected upfront by the BO (Attached to BO) in correct Head of Account in SAP.
(iii). Preparing the weekly BO Aadhaar transaction reports as per ‘Table 2 for its attached BOs.
(iv). Collection and maintenance of weekly reports from SOs and its own report mentioned at point (iii).
(v). Preparing the Monthly BO Aadhaar transaction reports as per ‘Table 3’ and reconciling data from UIDAI Enrolment client.
(vi). Sending report (Table 3) to the Divisional office and nodal account office.
(vii). Calculation of net amount of Remuneration/Recovery (if any) for Aadhaar services mentioned as per table 5 para 13 (viii) above.
(viii). Submission of report as per table ‘5’ to competent authority for approval.
(ix). Payment of net amount (for Aadhaar Services) to the BPM and collection of recovery, if any, from the BPM Maintenance of vouchers, reports and registers for inspections and audit purposes.
16. Role of Sr. Postmaster of HO/GPO
Issuing approval for payment/recovery, if any, to/from BPM after scrutiny of the reports within 5 days from the date of receipt of report.
17. Role of Division Office:
Identification of BOs for Aadhaar Services ensuring para 3, 5 and 6. Shifting and Setting up of AEKs at identified BOs L1 & L2 registration of AEKs.
On boarding of BPMs as Operators and Supervisors as per UIDAl's OM no. HQ-16038/1/2020-EU-I-HQ dated 12.12.2021
Training of BPMs Monitoring the BOs and accounts office regarding Aadhaar transactions and timely payment to BPM and ensure recovery, if any.
i). Visit of Divisional Head in account office on regular basis to avoid any fraud in payments.
ii). Obtaining willingness of the BPMs Obtaining 12" pass certificate from the BPMs Issuing orders regarding authorization for doing the Aadhaar related work to identified BOs. Issuing Dos and Don’ts to BOs
i). Issuing approval for payment/recovery to/from BPM after scrutiny the reports within 5 days from the date of receipt of report.
18. Role of Circle Office:
Daily monitoring of transactions at BOs. Monitoring of apportionment of payment by nodal office and payment to BOs by Account Offices. Authorizing Sr.PM/CPM of nodal office for apportionment of revenue to the account office.
Informing nodal office regarding receipt of payment from UIDAI. Providing penalty report to nodal account office and Divisional Office Overseeing the performance of BOs, DOs, concerned AOs and Nodal Account Office.
19. Role of nodal account office of Circle:
(i). Keeping track of amount received from UIDAI.
(ii). Making Account Office wise apportionment as per table 4 and sharing table 4 and Penalty report with Account Offices.
(iii). Informing account office and circle office regarding apportion.
(iv). Sending Penalty report received from CO to Account Offices.
