The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has asked banks not to deny pensions to those who do not have Aadhaar or whose biometrics cannot be verified, PTI reported on Tuesday. However, banks should encourage those without Aadhaar to get it, and should help them enrol for it if they are disabled or bed-ridden, the retirement fund body said.

Pensioners can submit paper life certificates if they are unable to get the digital ones for want of Aadhaar or if authentication fails, the EPFO said in a circular on Monday. The circular was sent to banks and the postal department, which disburse pensions for retired government employees.

The paper life certificate should be attached with the Aadhaar enrolment certificate if the pensioner has applied for it, the circular said. If fingerprints do not match when the agencies try to authenticate a pensioner using Aadhaar, they can use an iris scanner to verify biometrics, the EPFO said.

“Some complaints have been received from pensioners who are being turned away and denied pensions for want of Aadhaar or Aadhaar fingerprint authentication not being successful due to poor fingerprint of the beneficiary or due to network/connectivity or other technical reasons,” the circular said. “Because of this, pensioners are not able to get and submit Jeevan Pramaan.”

Jeevan Pramaan, or life certificate, is a document pensioners submit to withdraw their monthly pension. Since 2016, the process has been digitised, and they can now submit the life certificate online after authenticating themselves with Aadhaar.