By Yunus Lasania | ENS - HYDERABAD 15th April 2013 10:24 AM
Has Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy applied for an Aadhaar card? What about his Cabinet colleagues? Are Governor ESL Narasimhan and TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu too eyeing the identity card? Much as you would like to know if our VVIPs have applied, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) believes such information cannot be made public.
In a strange reply to an RTI query, the UIDAI has refused to reveal whether the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and other members of the Assembly have enrolled themselves for Aadhaar cards.
The response came after Sai Prasad, member of the Telangana Students’ Joint Action Committee (TSJAC), filed the RTI query at the UIDAI regional office on March 22. In its reply dated April 4, the UIDAI said, “The enrollment process of UIDIA does not involve collection of information on the rank/official position/profession of the residents who are being enrolled. Therefore, UIDAI will not be able to give the number of members of Legislative Assembly who have enrolled for Aadhaar till date.”
In, addition, as per Section 8 (1)(j) of the RTI Act 2005, disclosure of personal information which would cause unwarranted invasion of privacy of individual is not allowed, it said. A similar response was also given when the applicant asked whether Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu, Governor ESL Narsimhan, and Duddila Sridhar Babu, Minister for Civil Supplies, had applied.
The reply was given by public information officer and Assistant Director General, UIDAI, PSN Murthy.