CABINET APPROVES PROMULGATION OF AADHAAR AND OTHER LAWS (AMENDMENT)
ORDINANCE, 2019
Press
Information Bureau
Government of India Cabinet
Government of India Cabinet
28-February-2019 22:34
IST
CABINET APPROVES
PROMULGATION OF AADHAAR AND OTHER LAWS (AMENDMENT) ORDINANCE, 2019
The
Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the
promulgation of an Ordinance to make amendments to the Aadhaar Act 2016,
Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2005 & Indian Telegraph Act 1885. The
amendments proposed are the same as those contained in the Bill passed by the
Lok Sabha on 4th January 2019.
Impact:-
The
amendments would enable UIDAI to have a more robust mechanism to serve the
public interest and restrain the misuse of Aadhaar. Subsequent to this
amendment, no individual shall be compelled to provide proof of possession of
Aadhaar number of undergo authentication for the purpose of establishing his
identity unless it is so provided by a law made by Parliament.
Salient
Features
The
salient features of the amendments are as follows—
- Provides for
voluntary use of Aadhaar number in physical or electronic form by
authentication or offline verification with the consent of Aadhaar number
holder;
- Provides for use of
twelve-digit Aadhaar number and its alternative virtual identity to
conceal the actual Aadhaar number of an individual;
- Gives an option to children who are
Aadhaar number holders to cancel their Aadhaar number on attaining the age
of eighteen years;
- Permits the entities
to perform authentication only when they are compliant with the standards
of privacy and security specified by the Authority; and the authentication
is permitted under any law made by Parliament or is prescribed to be in the
interest of State by the Central Government;
- Allows the use of
Aadhaar number for authentication on voluntary basis as acceptable KYC
document under the Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Prevention of
Money-laundering Act, 2002.
- Proposes deletion of
section 57 of the Aadhaar Act relating to use of Aadhaar by private
entities;
- Prevents denial of
services for refusing to, or being unable to,
undergo authentication;
- Provides for
establishment of Unique Identification Authority of India Fund;
- Provides for civil
penalties, its adjudication, appeal thereof in regard to violations of
Aadhaar Act and provisions by entities in the Aadhaar ecosystem.
Background:
The
Supreme Court in its judgement dated 26.9.2018 in W.P (civil) No.494 of 2012
and other tagged petitions held Aadhaar to be constitutionally valid. However,
it read down/struck down few sections of the Aadhaar Act and Regulations and
gave several other directions in the interest of protecting the fundamental
rights to privacy.
Consequently
it was proposed to amend the Aadhaar Act, Indian Telegraph Act and the
Prevention of Money Laundering Act in line with the Supreme Court directives
and the report of Justice B.N.Srikrishna (Retd.) committee on data protection,
in order to ensure that personal data of Aadhaar holder remains protected
against any misuse and Aadhaar scheme remains in conformity with the
Constitution. Towards this, the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018
was passed by the Lok Sabha in its sitting held on 4th January,
2019. However, before the same could be considered and passed in the Rajya
Sabha, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned sine die. AKT/SH Source: PIB News (28.02.2019)
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