ECHS Aadhaar Rule: Veterans Need Aadhaar for Treatment and Claims
Image: The Tribune / File photo
Ex-servicemen and their families now need Aadhaar to get membership of the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), treatment at its polyclinics, service hospitals and empanelled hospitals, and reimbursement of claims. The Ministry of Defence’s Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare issued the order, notification S.O. 5482(E), on 7 October under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, The Tribune reported on 25 October. A second notification, S.O. 5483(E), applies the same condition to grants from the Raksha Mantri Ex-Servicemen Welfare Fund.
What Veterans Must Show at the Polyclinic
Beneficiaries must pass Aadhaar authentication or show proof that they hold an Aadhaar number. Anyone without one has to apply for enrolment. Until the number is issued, identity can be proved with the enrolment slip along with a document such as a passport, driving licence, voter card, ration card or matriculation certificate.
If fingerprint authentication fails, the notification says another biometric mode or a one-time password should be offered where feasible, and failing that, an offline check of the Aadhaar QR code or e-KYC document. Children cannot be denied benefits for lack of Aadhaar. For adults, it says bona fide beneficiaries must not lose benefits, and points to the exception rules in a December 2017 memorandum of the DBT Mission.
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ECHS Began Aadhaar Checks in March
The notification puts into law a shift ECHS had already started. A letter dated 20 March 2026 from its Statistics and Automation section set out the use of the Beneficiary Satyapan application for Aadhaar-based authentication of members. Section 7 notifications are now the usual route for tying a benefit to Aadhaar; the same step was taken for the PM CARES for Children scholarship.
The Kendriya Sainik Board has been told to help veterans enrol or update their details, by working with Aadhaar registrars, setting up enrolment centres or becoming a registrar itself.
No Deadline and No Count of Members Without Aadhaar
The rule takes effect from publication in the Gazette and sets no deadline for existing members. The notifications do not say how many ECHS members or dependants lack Aadhaar, how soon the Board will open enrolment centres, or how hospitals should handle an emergency admission when a patient cannot authenticate. Similar fallback questions came up in Delhi’s home verification of old-age pensioners.
The Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare had not published an explanation of the rollout on its website by 8 AM IST on 26 October.
Source: ECHS letter on Aadhaar-based authentication, 20 March 2026. Also based on reporting by The Tribune and the text of notification S.O. 5482(E) published by StaffNews.
Image: The Tribune / File photo.
