Mumbai, October 17: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has written to several online payments organisations to stop Aadhaar-based services. This comes days after the Supreme Court verdict saying Aadhaar was not mandatory for private services. According to an Economic Times report, the UIDAI has asked digital payment portals about how they will exit the Aadhaar ecosystem. Aadhaar Declared Constitutionally Valid by Supreme Court, But It's Not Mandatory to Link it With Bank Accounts, Mobile Numbers.
According to reports, the UIDAI has sought a confirmation from these companies on stopping Aadhaar-based services on their portal and also asked them to submit a plan on how they will exit the Aadhaar ecosystem. The notice has been sent to non-banking companies including PayPoint, Eko India Financial Services and Oxigen Services. Full Text: Aadhaar Verdict by Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, ahead of the expiry of deadline given to telcos to devise Aadhaar eKYC-exit details, a large operator has reportedly sought more time to share its action plan to migrate to alternate system of authenticating mobile users, saying reverting to paper verification was not just costly but could also lead to delays and has security-related issues. Telco Writes to UIDAI, Seeks More Time to Submit Aadhaar EKYC 'exit Plan'.
The UIDAI had asked telecom companies to submit, by October 15, a plan to stop using Aadhaar for customer authentication. According to a PTI report, a Bharti Airtel spokesperson said the company had submitted its response to the UIDAI but did not divulge any details. E-mails sent to Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea Ltd remained unanswered.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Constitutional Validity of the Aadhaar Act and struck down certain sections. The apex court said that bank accounts did not need to be linked with Aadhaar and that corporates had no right to ask for your UIDAI number.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 17, 2018 11:01 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).