Hyderabad, February 19: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday accused the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDIA) of "abusing" its powers. Reacting to notices sent to 127 people for allegedly obtaining Aadhaar cards on "false pretences", Asaduddin Owaisi sought to know who gave them the power to verify citizenship and findings of the preliminary inquiry if made in the case. Aadhaar Card-Voter ID Linking: Modi Government Moves to Empower Election Commission to Link EPIC With UID.

"UIDAI did not follow due procedure & abused its powers. The result was (understandable) panic among people. First, @UIDAI has no power to verify citizenship. It has few powers to look into some cases of Aadhaar being granted incorrectly (rules 27 & 28)," Owaisi tweeted. The Deputy Director in this case made it about verifying citizenship - which they aren’t empowered to do. The identical notices don’t even provide any specific findings of the preliminary inquiry that has to be made. Notices don’t even say what these “false pretences” were," he said in another tweet.

Asaduddin Owaisi's Tweet:

The UIDAI on Tuesday said its Hyderabad office has sent notices to 127 people for allegedly obtaining Aadhaar numbers on "false pretences" but asserted these have nothing to do with citizenship. The notices were issued after reports from the police, the agency said. Reacting to this, Owaisi asked: "Which police officer provided you with this information? @UIDAI Can @TelanganaDGP confirm if they shared a list of 127 names with UIDAI? Can they tell us on what grounds? Since UIDAI has now shifted the responsibility to @TeanganaPolice it is their responsibility to clear the air."

Seeking to know how many of those 127 people are Muslim and Dalit, Owaisi tweeted: "The words used in the notice is verification of citizenship (not validity of aadhaar). So will @UIDAI suspend the Deputy Director who issued this notice? They clearly exceeded their powers by issuing this notice. It was a bad faith & biased exercise of their powers." He also asked the Telangana Police not to seek Aadhaar information during their combing operations.

"It may be noted that the regional office Hyderabad received reports from the state police that 127 people have obtained Aadhaar on false pretences, as in their preliminary enquiry they were found illegal immigrants who were not qualified to obtain an Aadhaar number," the UIDAI said in a statement on Tuesday. As per the Aadhaar Act, such Aadhaar numbers are liable to be cancelled.

"Therefore, the regional office Hyderabad has sent notices to them to appear in person and to substantiate their claims for getting an Aadhaar number," it said. The UIDAI emphasised that these notices have "nothing to do with citizenship and cancellation of Aadhaar number is in no way related to the nationality of any resident".

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 19, 2020 02:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).