New Delhi: The Central government on Wednesday allowed the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to use Aadhaar authentication to verify the identity of candidates at the time of registration, examinations and during various stages of recruitment on a voluntary basis.

The government's move assumes significance as the Commission had last month cancelled the candidature of trainee IAS officer Pooja Khedkar and barred her from all future exams for cheating in the civil services exam.

Steps taken after Pooja Khedkar's fraud case

Khedkar has also been accused of misusing the disability and other backward class or OBC (non-creamy layer) quota. The UPSC had initiated several actions against Khedkar in July, including filing a case of forgery against him for appearing in the civil services exam using a fake identity.

After this, Delhi Police has registered a case and started investigation. In a notification, the Personnel Ministry said that UPSC is allowed to do Aadhaar authentication on a voluntary basis for verification of the identity of candidates at the time of registration on the One Time Registration Portal and at various stages of the examination, recruitment examination.

UIDAI data is important

The notification said that the Commission will follow all the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and the directions issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Aadhaar is a 12-digit number issued by UIDAI to all eligible citizens on the basis of biometric and demographic data.