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Aadhaar based e-sign facility for Provident Fund Portal
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) issued a circular introducing Aadhaar-based e-sign facility for employers to authenticate various documents on the Provident Fund portal on 06 October 2017. Earlier, the authentication was done through Digital Signature Certificate (“DSC”).
Specific software installations and settings are required to use the DSC on the Provident Fund portal. Many employers had reported to the EPFO that they were facing difficulties in authenticating the documents using the DSC. Considering the above, the EPFO has now introduced Aadhaar-based e-sign facility in addition to DSC for authentication of documents. Once the authorized signatory is registered for e-sign, the documents can be authenticated by using the one-time pin (“OTP”) sent on the mobile registered with Aadhaar of the authorized signatory.
The employers whose DSC is already registered can activate their Aadhaar base e-sign by providing Aadhaar of the authorized signatory, name, designation, gender and date of birth on the Provident Fund portal. An OTP will be sent to the mobile number registered with Aadhaar of the authorized signatory. On submission of the OTP, Aadhaar-based e-sign will be registered.
The employers whose DSC is not registered can activate the Aadhaar based e-sign by providing Aadhaar of the authorized signatory, name, designation, gender and date of birth on the Provident Fund portal.
An OTP will be sent to the mobile number registered with Aadhaar of the authorized signatory. On submission of the OTP, a request letter will be generated to be sent to the EPFO. The signed request letter will need to be submitted to the relevant regional EPFO office for approval. Upon approval, the Aadhaar-based e-sign will be registered. As per the circular, regional EPFO offices have been advised to approve the Aadhaar-based e-sign registration requests immediately.
NANGIA’S TAKE
The EPFO has also issued a User Manual for registering the authorized signatory for Aadhaar-based e-sign. The EPFO has launched many initiatives to make its services completely digital. This new Aadhaar based e-sign facility will help the employers who were facing difficulties in authenticating the documents using DSC on the Provident Fund portal.