New Delhi, Sep 26: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the Aadhaar number and card details are not needed for mobile phone connections and neither it is mandatory for the opening of bank account. Also, the 12-digit biometric will not be mandatory for UGC, NEET and CBSE Exams, the SC added. The apex court’s five-judge Constitution bench said Aadhaar means unique and it is better to be 'unique' than being 'best'. The bench added that it is mandatory to link PAN with Aadhaar and for filing Income Tax returns and for availing facilities of welfare schemes and government subsidies.

As the Supreme Court had earlier made it mandatory to link Aadhaar with bank accounts, mobile numbers and other social welfare schemes, crores of people had already linked their biometric details to banks and telecom service providers through e-KYC or c-KYC process. With the SC's order today, many of us have been thinking if we can delink the Aadhaar details from bank accounts or mobile phone numbers.

Unlink Aadhaar from your bank account and mobile number:

An individual can unlink his/her Aadhaar from the bank account by submitting an application to the branch of the bank where the customer has an account. An individual is required to state the reason for revoking her consent.

Step 1: Users will have Visit the bank branch and ask the customer service to give you a physical form to unlink Aadhaar.

Step 2: Once the form is submitted to the bank, your Aadhaar will be unlinked with 48 hours

Step 3: A user can check for the same by calling their respective bank to find out if the account has been unlinked.

A similar application can be submitted to concerned telecom operator for Aadhaar delinking.

How to delink Aadhaar from Private Wallet Services

Many of us will be worrying as we have already linked our biometric details with private wallet services like Patym, Ola, Uber, Google Pay, MobiKwik, etc. You can delink your Aadhaar details using simple steps:

Step 1: Customers are requested to call on the required customer care numbers of these private wallet firm

Step 2: Ask the customer care service representative to send you an e-mail to unlink your Aadhaar.

Step 3: Users will then receive an e-mail which will ask you to attach a clear softcopy of your Aadhaar. An individual is required to reply to the mail with the picture of Aadhaar card.

Step 4: The private wallet firm will send you a mail confirming that your Aadhaar will be unlinked within 72 hours.

According to Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI), an Aadhaar number holder is entitled to delink his biometric details shared with any authorised agency or service provider. As per UIDAI's  "Compendium of Regulations, Circulars and Guidelines" for authentication of Aadhaar-based e-KYC,  the Aadhaar number holder may, at any time, revoke consent given to a KUA for storing his e-KYC data. Aadhaar Verdict: List of Services for Which UIDAI Number Is Mandatory and for Those It’s Not.

The compendium says, "The Aadhaar number holder may, at any time, revoke consent given to a KUA for storing his e-KYC data or for sharing it with third parties, and upon such revocation, the KUA shall delete the e-KYC data and cease any further sharing." In simpler words, the UIDAI in its circular had said that an Aadhaar cardholder is legally allowed to delink her biometric identification details from bank accounts and mobile phone numbers. SC/ST Reservation in Job Promotions: Supreme Court Declines to Refer Issue to Seven-Judge Bench, Says States Don't Need to Collect Quantifiable Data.

On Wednesday, the Court also observed that biometric data shall not be shared with any agency without the permission of the court, and also asked the central government to introduce a strong data protection law as soon as possible. Justice Chandrachud said that Aadhaar violates informational privacy and data protection and constitutional guarantees cannot be compromised by vicissitudes of technology.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 26, 2018 02:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).