In a bid to enhance fairness and transparency in its affordable housing scheme, the Haryana government has announced a major upgrade to its e‑draw portal (TCP Haryana) by linking it with Aadhaar authentication. This strategic move comes in response to troubling irregularities witnessed during the 2023 housing draw for Aster Avenue 36 in Sector 36, Sohna.

During the previous draw of lots for 702 flats, a mere 2,200 of the 51,000 applicants were deemed eligible—largely due to data inconsistencies such as mislabelled addresses like ‘Sohna City’, which excluded thousands from the draw. The situation worsened after the initial draw was canceled and re‑conducted, only to reveal that 26 applicants had made it onto both shortlists, raising serious fairness concerns

To restore trust in the process, the upgraded portal will use Aadhaar to automatically fetch and verify key applicant details—name, address, mobile number—directly from government-verified databases. This means manual data entry errors and manipulation will be virtually eliminated

. Applicants previously allotted flats under any affordable housing initiative will be flagged and automatically rejected, helping to weed out duplicates and ineligible entries

Moreover, the system is being retrofitted with past data from earlier housing schemes, streamlining administrative work and minimizing potential bias. The Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) confirms that this integration will also automatically disqualify any repeat or fraudulent applications.

The push for Aadhaar linkage comes amid ongoing legal scrutiny: the Punjab and Haryana High Court is reviewing the Aster Avenue case, with the next hearing set for July 9. Until then, the portal’s roll‑out is a proactive step toward ensuring that future draws are fair, robust, and trustworthy