By Anjana Vaswani, Mumbai Mirror | Updated: May 25, 2018, 05.50 AM IST
Despite SC order, citizens claim various organisations continue to pressure them to produce UIDAI cards; they also aim to file a suit against CBDT.
About two months ago, when 35-year-old Kalachowki resident Satyachitanand Sharma was contacted by his bank, the New Satara Zilla Nagrik Sahakari Patsanstha Ltd, and asked to update his KYC information, he was happy to submit a voter ID. But the bank rejected it and insisted on the Aadhaar card, he told Mirror.
Sharma was in a roomful of people gathered at The Mumbai Press Club in Fort yesterday to voice similar complaints against different organisations – banks, schools, telephone operators and cooperative societies – which, they claim, have been insisting that citizens produce the ID card, despite the Supreme Court’s orders, and to find solutions.
In March 2018, the highest court in the land indefinitely extended the deadline for Aadhaar linkage with bank accounts and all central and state government schemes with the exception of some benefits/subsidies. However, people like Sharma say that despite this, organisations insist on the UIDAI card.
A 69-year-old Worli resident, who did not want to be named, said that both HDFC and SBI banks had refused to open demat accounts for him in the absence of the ID even though he had existing bank accounts with them.
Akbarally Kharodia, a 32-year-old Vashi resident, had with him a complaint printed in Gujarati, which he said he had registered with the Farmer Welfare Department in Gandhinagar. Kharodia, who hails from a family of farmers based in Pimpodar village in Gujarat, said that his family has been unable to procure fertilisers for the last couple of months as they are told that an Aadhaar card is a must for the Point of Sale (PoS) device, and that no alternative would be accepted.
Biometrics expert JT D’Souza, a panellist at the event, called this a dangerous situation and said, “The court made exceptions in only three cases – the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, Public Distribution System (PDS) and the LPG subsidy – where direct subsidies were involved and orders had already been passed. If Aadhaar is being demanded for fertiliser, it is in direct violation of the Supreme Court.”
D’Souza was part of a panel which included engineer Vickram Crishna, activist Kamayani Bali, Prof G Nagarjuna who works at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education and data privacy expert Ritesh Bhatia, all of whom piped in at different times to offer guidance to those present. D’Souza, Crishna, Bali and Nagarjuna, have, at different times and for different reasons, petitioned the court against the UIDAI scheme. Crishna said that he will shortly be filing a suit with others against the Central Board of Direct Taxation, “so that we are able to file our returns.”
Also present were those who had successfully thwarted attempts by organisations to impose Aadhaar cards. Among them was a parent who had refused to procure an Aadhaar card for his son despite repeated requests from the school. “In a letter, I reminded them of the Supreme Court order. The school did not reply but has stopped pressing for the document now,” said the parent, who wished to remain anonymous.
