Sikkim to roll out Aadhaar-based biometric attendance from October 1; salary deduction for unmarked attendance

The Sikkim government will introduce an Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) for government employees from October 1, with failure to record attendance potentially resulting in extraordinary leave and automatic salary deductions.

According to a Home Department circular issued on September 22, the system will initially be implemented at state and district headquarters before being extended across Sikkim.

AEBAS, developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and linked to employees’ Aadhaar or UID, will allow government employees to record their attendance through smartphones from designated locations near their workplaces.

The system will be mandatory for all government employees, including regular and temporary staff.

Attendance linked to salary records

Under the new system, attendance and leave records captured through AEBAS will be integrated with the government’s PRANALI system.

The circular states that failure to record attendance through AEBAS will be treated as extraordinary leave, with the corresponding salary deduction to be made automatically by PRANALI from the following month’s salary.

For temporary employees, failure to mark attendance will be treated as leave without pay, with salary or wage deductions carried out according to the prescribed procedure.

At the end of each month, AEBAS will generate an attendance report for every employee. Departmental nodal officers will verify leave and absences to determine whether they were authorised.

After accounting for permissible leave and official duty, any remaining absence will be classified as net absence.

Process for unauthorised absence

After the seventh day of the following month, PRANALI will retrieve net absence data through NIC’s Net Absence Consolidation APIs.

Drawing and Disbursing Officers will then generate and digitally sign orders for extraordinary leave or leave without pay in cases where an employee has recorded net absence.

These orders will be forwarded to the concerned personnel sections for updating leave accounts and service books. For Group A and Group B officers, the orders will also be forwarded to the Department of Personnel.

The government circular cited Rule 20(2) of the Sikkim Government Service (Leave) Rules, 1982, under which the competent authority can convert absence without leave into extraordinary leave.

It said no additional procedure would be required in cases of unauthorised absence recorded through AEBAS.

Nodal officers to oversee rollout

All Secretaries and Heads of Departments have been directed to appoint nodal officers of the rank of Additional Secretary or equivalent to oversee implementation.

The designated officers will receive hands-on training from NIC on operating the system.

The government said AEBAS monitoring would begin from October 1, 2026, at the state and district headquarters and would subsequently be expanded across Sikkim.