Aadhaar glitches disrupt online leave-and-licence registrations in state

Pune: Online registration for leave-and-licence (rental) agreements in Maharashtra has once again been disrupted by recurring Aadhaar authentication glitches. While services resumed early Saturday morning, state officials are now scrambling to implement long-term fixes to prevent repeated outages.According to the state Directorate of Information Technology (DIT), the disruption was traced to technical issues within the Windows Server that manages Aadhaar authentication for multiple govt services. The two-day glitch stalled not only leave-and-licence agreements but also first-sale registrations at builders' offices statewide.Since the beginning of the year, citizens have reported frequent, unannounced server failures. In this latest instance, the system remained shut down for 48 hours, finally resuming operations in the early hours of Saturday."We acknowledge the technical glitch and are working towards a permanent solution," a DIT official stated, noting that a high-level meeting is scheduled for next week. "Currently, we rely on a single line to authenticate Aadhaar for various schemes. We plan to add a second line to ensure a smoother process and provide redundancy."The disruption has resulted in a backlog of over 10,000 documents. While the system is back online, authorities estimate it will take at least a week to clear the pending registrations.To prevent future collapses, state registration authorities are considering a major policy shift: establishing direct integration with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). This move would bypass the state IT department's intermediate routing, which has been the primary source of recent failures."Once we finalise direct integration, Aadhaar authentication will be streamlined, and citizens should no longer face these interruptions," an official added.Registration officials clarified that the fault lies with the DIT infrastructure, not the UIDAI. During the outage, applicants were forced to either wait indefinitely or visit sub-registrar offices in person with two witnesses -- a move that undermines the Aadhaar-based digital system introduced in 2019 to reduce physical footfall.Maharashtra operates 519 registration offices, including 27 in the Pune district. Urban centers like Pune and Mumbai, where the majority of transactions are digital, bore the brunt of the failure.The delays have far-reaching consequences, as registered rental agreements are mandatory proof of residence for essential services, including vehicle transfers, gas connections, opening bank accounts, and police verification.Citizens have expressed mounting frustration. "I had to cancel multiple appointments and still haven't been able to register my agreement," said Sudha Mehta, a Pune resident. Ramesh Patil from Thane added, "The system fails every time we try. There is zero communication and no helpline to assist us."Sachin Shingavi, president, Association of Service Providers, Maharashtra, has sought intervention from State IT minister Ashish Shelar. "These disruptions inconvenience both citizens and service providers. We need a permanent fix immediately," Shingavi said.Service providers also pointed out that the state collects a "document handling charge" of approximately ₹300 per registration for server maintenance. They questioned why, despite these collections, the infrastructure remains prone to such frequent and debilitating outages.