No Need To Link Aadhaar With Mobile Phones, Rules Supreme Court

INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Supreme Court today struck down the provision which allowed telecom companies to avail Aadhaar data.In a major relief to mobile phone
subscribers, the Supreme Court today struck down the provision which allowed telecom companies to avail Aadhaar details
According to the Supreme Court's verdict in the Aadhaar matter, telecom companies cannot seek linking of Aadhaar for providing mobile
phone connections.Justice AK Sikri, who was a part of the five-judge bench which pronounced the Aadhaar verdict, struck down Section 57 of
the Aadhaar Act, which permitted private entities like telecom companies to avail Aadhaar data."Mobile phone has become important feature of
life and its seeding with Aadhaar poses grave threat to privacy, liberty, autonomy," said Justice DY Chandrachud.Justice Ashok Bhushan
agreed with the view that there was no need to link Aadhaar with mobile numbers and rejected the argument that revealing demographic
information for Aadhaar amounted to violation of Right to Privacy, saying an individual revealed such data for other ID proofs, reported
news agency Press Trust of India
(With inputs from agencies)