You may have to undergo fresh KYC process to delink Aadhaar from mobile

This is the first ever step by the UIDAI to implement the Supreme Court's ruling on Aadhaar

Ever since the Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act and disallowed private entities from possessing the customers’ Aadhaar details, people have become impatient to get their mobile connections and bank accounts delinked.

To delink the Aadhaar from a mobile connection, you may possibly have to go through a fresh KYC (Know Your Customer) process. The new KYC procedure may require you to submit physical copies of address and identity proof to your telecom service provider.
 

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Monday asked all telecom companies to formulate and submit within next 15 days a plan to stop using Aadhaar-based customer authentication. The regulating authority has asked the operators to take immediate cognizance of the request for delinking Aadhaar with a mobile number as and when such requests are received from subscribers.

The UIDAI has also asked all the telecom service providers (TSPs) to notify subscribers about the facility to delink their Aadhaar number and UID token from their database and shortly start putting in place a streamlined delinking process. In its instruction to telecom companies, the UIDAI said, “all telecom providers are liable for contempt of court for any non-compliance in delinking process.”

On mobile connections, the regulating authority noted that telecom service providers may take appropriate action to perform fresh KYC according to the Department of Telecom’s (DoT) approved list of proof of identity and address within six months from the date of such request to avoid de-activation of the mobile number.

This is the first ever step by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling on Aadhaar that a unique number cannot be used to authenticate the identity of customers acquiring mobile connections.

Last week, the Supreme Court struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act which allowed private companies to use the 12-digit biometric ID-based eKYC. Following this, private companies like telecom operators will not be able to use this instantaneous and inexpensive Aadhaar eKYC route.

This would mean that the industry will have to revert to alternates like legacy paper-based technique (collect physical paper forms with signature, photographs, ship to verification centre and call up the customer to cross-verify submitted details). 
With inputs from The Times of India