The Unique Identification Authority of India has asked telecom companies to submit by October 15 a plan to discontinue using Aadhaar number for authentication of customers, PTI reported.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the constitutional validity of Aadhaar by a 4:1 majority but struck down certain provisions of the Aadhaar Act. The court said Aadhaar need not be linked to mobile phones and bank accounts. People will also not need to provide Aadhaar to get a new number or open a bank account.
Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, which the Supreme Court struck down, enabled private bodies to seek Aadhaar for authentication.
The Aadhaar authority issued a circular to service providers, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, which according to PTI, asked them to “immediately take actions in order to comply” with the Supreme Court’s order.
“In order to ensure smooth discontinuation...there are certain requirements which are there under the Aadhaar regulations...so the companies are in the best position to know what exactly is needed and they can submit their plan by October 15,” said Chief Executive Officer of UIDAI Ajay Bhushan Pandey.
Pandey told The Economic Times that regulators of banks, telecom companies and stock markets must guide companies in their sectors on implementation of the court’s directive that bans the use of Aadhaar-based authentication by private firms.
“The court order is also available to the banks and telecom companies and their sector regulators,” Pandey said. “Many of them were parties in the court too. It is expected that they will comply with the order at their end at the earliest.”
Pandey said the UIDAI will not issue guidelines in this regard, and clarifications, if any, should be sought from the court.
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