Registration Department denies biometric details leak from its end in Mangaluru

Ruling out changes of leakage of biometric details after registration of documents as reported by a few people to the police in Mangaluru, a senior official from the Stamps and Registration Department said that neither the Aadhaar number nor the fingerprint taken at the time of registration are stored in any server for it to be shared.

The officials were responding to 15 complaints given to the Mangaluru City police alleging leakage of Aadhaar number and fingerprints given at the time of registration of documents leading to fraudsters withdrawing amounts ranging between ₹1,000 and ₹1 lakh using Aadhaar Enabled Payment System.

The senior official said there is no evidence so far on compromising of Aadhaar number and biometric details following registration under the new Kaveri-2 system. “Aadhaar is one of the six identity documents taken at the time of registration and this Aadhaar number is not stored in the system,” official said. Similarly finger prints are also not stored in the system. “Hence, question of leakage of Aadhaar and biometric details, following registration, does not arise,” the official said.

None of those who approached the police have filed compliant with department, the official added.

“We are definitely not the cause for the leak of Aadhaar and biometric details,” the official said. There are other places where Aadhaar and biometric details, which are taken for authentication, from where details might have leaked. The ongoing police investigation into the complaints will throw light of the source of leakage, the official said.

Meanwhile, the official said, instructions are issued on September 27 asking document writers to mention only the last four digits of Aadhaar number in the document to be registered while marking the first eight numbers with “X”. The official said officers are told not to demand copies of Aadhaar.

Aadhaar security

People are also being told to lock the Aadhaar Biometric on myAadhar.uidai.gov.in or the myAadhaar app to prevent misuse. “Aadhaar Biometric can be unlocked for a temporary period at the time of authentication,” the official said. The department on October 10 has posted an awareness video on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtq6nTtpu5A) on the way to lock and unlock Aadhaar biometric.

Kaveri-2 system is operational in all the 255 sub-registrar offices in Karnataka. Apart from speeding up the registration process, new system has been designed to bring more transparency in the process. An average of 9,000 documents are being registered per day across the State. In Mangaluru Taluk, an average of 75 documents are being registered every day.

On September 29, as many as 22,695 documents were registered and revenue of ₹260 crore was collected across the State. On September 27, as many as 26,260 documents were registered and ₹312 crore was collected. On September 25, 15936 documents were registered and ₹158 crore revenue was collected, said department on its website.