81 lakh Aadhaar cards deactivated: How to check Aadhaar card status & find out if yours is still active

The Unique Identification Authority of India had deactivated close to 81 lakh Aadhaar numbers last week. Minister of State for Electronics and IT P P Chaudhary, had informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday. The Aadhaar numbers were deactivated for a number of reasons stated in Section 27 and 28 of Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations, 2016. Chaudhary had said that the regional offices of the UIDAI have authority to deactivate the Aadhaar numbers. He said, “Prior to enactment of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, the deactivation (suspension) of Aadhaar numbers was done as per the Aadhaar Life Cycle Management (ALCM) guideline.”

This move has left many people worried as Aadhaar has now been made mandatory for many things, including filing one’s income tax return and opening a bank account. The government has recently been trying to weed out illegal financial dealings in India, and as one of its first moves, it had deactivated ove 11.44 lakh permanent account numbers (PANs) till 27 July. As per the government rule, it is illegal for a person to have more than one PAN number registered under his/ her name and it is also advisable to link your Aadhaar number with PAN before the deadline i,e. August 31. The central government had also noticed several bogus PAN cards are allotted to non-existing people or individuals who have provided false information about themselves for PAN.

Meanwhile, when it comes to Aadhaar card, they were deactivated for a number of reasons. According to the Sections 27 and 28, an individual’s Aadhaar can be cancelled or deactivated in case multiple Aadhaars were issued, or if discrepancies were found in the biometric data or supporting documents. Here is a step by step guide to check the status of your Aadhaar card. In case you find your number is invalid, you will have to contact the several contact details given on the website.

1. Open the Aadhaar website, that is UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India).

2. Find the ‘Verify Aadhaar Number ‘ link on the Aadhaar website. You will be able to find this link under Aadhaar Services section. Once you open the link, you will be taken to another portal.