New Delhi: Today the government came out clear over the issue of Aadhar-based verification of mobile phone users after the Supreme Court invalidated the biometric based identity from being necessary for mobile phone number registration. The government announced that it has discontinued the Aadhaar-based verification for mobile phone users and assured that whoever received SIM cards based on Aadhaar eKYC, will not have to face their mobile phone number from being disconnected and discontinued.
The Ministry of Telecom and Aadhaar authority UIDAI said in a joint statement that though the Supreme Court has invalidated the issued of new SIM cards through Aadhaar-based eKYC authentication process, but it has given no such direction to deactivate the old mobile phone numbers obtained through Aadhaar eKYC.
They further said that those customers who want to change or replace their Aadhaar records with mobile companies, can do it on a voluntary basis by submitting any kind of alternate government-recognized identity or address proof.
From the government side, there would be no force for the customers to go for re-verification process after they have already submitted Aadhaar details, the statement said.
“Hon’ble Supreme Court in its judgement in Aadhaar case has nowhere directed that the mobile number which has been issued through Aadhaar eKYC has to be disconnected. Therefore, there is absolutely no reason for panic or fear at all,” the joint statement by the two government bodies said.
As the Supreme Court judgement regarding the use of Aadhaar-based verification by private entities made it clear that it is not allowed, there was a wide-spread speculation among those subscribers that have enrolled through Aadhaar-based authentication process, that they would have provide fresh documents apart from Aadhaar to complete their Know Your Customer (KYC) process again.
Setting aside all such rumours, the statement said that “In light of the verdict, if anybody wishes to get her or his Aadhaar eKYC replaced by the fresh KYC, she or he may request the service provider for de-linking of their Aadhaar by submitting fresh OVDs (official valid documents) as per earlier DOT circulars on mobile KYC. But in any case, his mobile number will not be disconnected.”
The telecom companies have been served a deadline of October 15 by the Unique Identification Authority of India or UIDAI to company with the apex court order and directed them to shut down Aadhaar-based verification for their services.
The statement further noted that the Supreme Court did not gave any order regarding the operators to delete existing eKYC data of their customers. Instead of that, the order said that UIDAI should not keep any authentication log for more than six months. “The restriction is on UIDAI and not on the telecom companies. Therefore there is no need for telecom companies to delete authentication logs,” the statement said.
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