Government moves bill to allow voluntary use of Aadhaar for SIM, bank account

The government on Wednesday has moved a bill in the Lok Sabha that will allow individuals to offer voluntary linkage of biometric ID Aadhaar with mobile phone numbers and bank accounts, as a means of identity verification for obtaining services to amend three separate laws governing the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 and gives a minor an option to opt out of the 12-digit identity scheme on attaining the age of 18 years. It also provides for stiff penalties for violation of norms set for the use of Aadhaar.

The Aadhaar and Amendment Bill 2018, moved by Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in the Lok Sabha, bans storing of core biometric information as well as Aadhaar number by service providers in cases of individuals who have voluntarily offered the national ID as a means of authentication.

The court sought to address privacy concerns and said it was not mandatory to link Aadhaar with bank accounts or mobile phone numbers.

The draft Aadhaar amendment bill puts the obligation on offline verification of Aadhaar number holders where the individual will be verified through QR codes without submission of biometric or demographic information to data servers of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). “Offline verification means the process of verifying the identity of the Aadhaar number holder without authentication through such offline modes as may be specified by regulation,” the amendment bill stated.

“Let me clarify at the outset that the proposed amendment is done in compliance with the Supreme Court judgement. It (linking) is not mandatory at all,” IT and law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday in response to concerns raised by the opposition.

Privacy is “not being invaded at all” by these amendments, the minister said. The government has prepared a data protection bill that will be introduced in Parliament soon, he said.

Objections were raised by Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Saugata Roy (Trinamool Congress) and N.K. Premachandran (RSP). Roy said the proposed amendments infringe the Supreme Court judgement.

“The bill is premature because first we need enactment of data protection law,” Tharoor said, asking “where is the draft” of the data protection law. The bill must be withdrawn and revised,” he said.

The government is yet to introduce the draft personal data protection bill in the Parliament. On 30 November, Prasad had said the government is looking at the “widest consultation and feedback” on the draft bill.

With exchanges heating up on the bill, the Lok Sabha speaker adjourned the House till 2pm.

On 17 December, the Union cabinet gave its go-ahead to amending existing laws to give legal backing to the voluntary use of Aadhaar.

There will be a provision to file an appeal before the TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal), and against the orders of TDSAT an appeal can be made in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, in a landmark verdict in September last year, had upheld the constitutional validity of 'Aadhaar' but limited the scope of the controversial biometric identity project, ruling it is not mandatory for bank accounts, mobile connections or school admissions. Holding there was nothing in the Aadhaar Act that violates right to privacy of an individual, the SC had cleared the use of Aadhaar (world's largest biometric ID programme) for welfare schemes. The court had held that Aadhaar will remain mandatory for filing of Income Tax (IT) returns and allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN) but struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 that permitted private entities like telecom companies or other corporate to avail of the biometric Aadhaar data. Following this, the Cabinet last month approved amendments to Aadhaar Act, the Indian Telegraph Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The bill says that "every Aadhaar number holder to establish his identity, may voluntarily use his Aadhaar number in physical or electronic form by way of authentication or offline verification or in such other form as may be notified...". 

It also says that offline verification can be performed only with the consent of Aadhaar number holder.