NEW DELHI: Acting on the landmark Aadhaar judgment made by Supreme Court last week, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has given telecom companies 15 days to come up with a plan to stop using Aadhaar number for customer authentication.
Service providers like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and others were sent the circular that said, “...all TSPs (telecom service providers) are called up on to immediately take actions in order to comply with the judgement dated 26.09.2018. In this regard, TSPs are hereby directed to submit by October 15, 2018, an action plan/exit plan to the authority for closure of use of Aadhaar-based authentication systems...”
As per the Supreme Court’s decision to quash Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act-2016, private companies cannot demand Aadhaar data linked to an individual’s face, fingerprints and iris scans for access to their services.
Following this, private companies like telecom operators will not be able to use this instantaneous and inexpensive Aadhaar eKYC route.
It is now believed that telcos will have to revert to the previous lengthy procedure of collecting multiple identity proofs and physical paper forms with signature and photographs, shipping them to verification centres and calling up the customer to cross-verify the submitted details for authentication.
“There are certain requirements under the Aadhaar regulations...so, the companies are in the best position to know what exactly is needed and they can submit their plan by October 15. If any additional requirements are to be done from the UIDAI’s side, we will tell them after receipt of their plan,” UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey said.
(With PTI inputs)