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Press Trust of India | New Delhi March 07, 2012 Last Updated at 14:44 IST
The government will introduce a bill during the Monsoon Session of
Parliament to give legislative powers to the Unique Identification
Authority of India (UIDAI) to facilitate its work relating to
collection of biometric data of residents.
"We will bring it [UIDAI Bill] in the next Monsoon Session of
Parliament instead of the forthcoming Budget Session," Planning
Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told PTI.
The Commission, which is providing administrative support to the
Authority, has been asked to draft the Bill that would provide legal
sanctity to the UIDAI. The authority is currently working under an
executive order.
"In the Budget Session, there are other things, that have to be done.
It is not a big decision. We have lots of things to do like annual
Plan discussions [with states]. We don't want to be pressurised [with
too many engagements]," he said.
Earlier the bill for providing legislative powers to the authority for
collection of biometric data and issuing unique identification numbers
to all residents, was put off by the Parliamentary Standing Committee
on Finance headed by former Finance Minster Yashwant Sinha in
December.
The bill was rejected by the Parliamentary panel in view of lack of
proper groundwork, unjustified cost, and instance failure of such
exercises in other countries.
The UIDAI has recently wriggled out of a row, that continued for a
year between Planning Commission and Home Ministry.
While the Home Ministry had raised doubts over the authenticity of
data collected by UIDAI, the Planning Commission pitched for the
project arguing that it was required for inclusive development.