After SC Declares Mobile-Aadhaar Linking Illegal, Activist Asks Telecom Minister Steps To Delink Aadhaar From SIM

Seeks assurance that information given to telecom companies will be destroyed forthwithWith the Supreme Court having declared mandatory linking of mobile number with Aadhaar “illegal”, activist Tehseen Poonawalla, one of the applicants in the case, has written to the Minister for Department of Telecommunication asking about steps required to be taken to delink Aadhaar details already. Seeks assurance that information given to telecom companies will be destroyed forthwith With the Supreme Court having declared mandatory linking of mobile number with Aadhaar “illegal”, activist Tehseen Poonawalla, one of the applicants in the case, has written to the Minister for Department of Telecommunication asking about steps required to be taken to delink Aadhaar details already provided by subscribers against the mobile numbers. In his letter addressed to Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha, Poonawalla relied on the September 26 verdict of the Supreme Court in case titled Justice KS Puttaswamy and Anr Vs Union of India and others, better known as Aadhaar case, wherein it was held that private entities cannot solicit Aadhaar details and the mandatory linking of it with mobile number is illegal since it is not backed by any law. Supreme Court in Aadhaar case, held that the portion of Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act which enables body corporate and individual to seek authentication is held to be unconstitutional “I would request you to inform me about the steps required to be taken to de-link Aadhaar details which citizens have already provided against the cellular mobile numbers to the operator along with the assurance that the Aadhaar details provided earlier to the telecom operator will be destroyed with immediate effect,’ Poonawalla wrote in his letter to Sinha.