Aadhaar and mobile linking: Centredeliberately misinterpreting SC order in Lokniti Foundation, says fresh PIL
A new petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the mandate by the Central government that verification of new and existing mobile phone connections should be conducted using Aadhaar. In the petition filed by Raghav Tankha through advocate Pragya Baghel, cellular operators, Vodafone, Bharti Airtel, Idea and Reliance have been arraigned as respondents besides the Central government and UIDAI. Tankha’s challenge is based on two circulars issued by Department of Telecom wherein it has been stated that the Supreme Court has directed that verification/re-verification of all existing mobile subscribers have to be mandatorily conducted by using the Aadhaar based E-KYC process. As per the petition, “The DOT Circulars dated 16.08.2016 and 23.03.2017 in effect makes it mandatory for anyone using a mobile phone in India, to link their Aadhaar Card with their mobile number by a 06.02.2018 in order to continue enjoying the service...