No final decision on linking Aadhaar with mobile numbers, says Govt

Key Highlights

• Government clarified that it has given no final decision on Aadhaar-mobile linking.
• Supreme Court will hear the Aadhaar-mobile linking issue on November 13.
• Operators were given a deadline to link Aadhaar with mobile numbers by February 2018.

The government on Tuesday said that there has been no final decision on linking an individual’s mobile number with Aadhaar cards.

Speaking in New Delhi on the issue, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said that there has been no official decision on linking the two as the case is still pending with the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court will hear the plea of the mobile-Aadhaar linking issue on November 13.

Earlier in October Sundararajan had said that by December 1 people would be clear on what options they have for linking their Aadhaar with mobile numbers.

She added that availability of options would even be available for senior citizens as well.

Telecom operators however have been insistent with multiple messages to subscribers threatening discontinuity in services. “As per government directive, it is mandatory to link Aadhaar with your mobile number else your number will be terminated.”

However clarifying on the issue, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said that mobile numbers will not be disconnected over the Aadhaar linkage issue.

Operators were given a directive by the Department of Telecommunication in February this year to re-verify existing subscriber base using Aadhaar cards. The deadline for the task was February 2018.

Operators told Zeebiz in an earlier report that companies were sending out numerous messages to complete the ‘mammoth’ size task of re-verifying their subscriber base which sometimes runs into crores.

DoT is reportedly trying to make the re-verification process using Aadhaar cards simpler for subscribers. Suggestions in this process include Aadhaar re-verification from home.

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• Telecom operators 'spam' customers for 'mammoth' Aadhaar re-verification