Aadhaar holder can only lock biometrics, may not opt out: UIDAI in RTI response

An Aadhaar number holder can lock his biometrics but may not opt out it as suggested by the Supreme Court, according to a latest response by the UIDAI.

The Authority may enable Aadhaar holder to permanently lock his biometrics or it can be locked by visiting its website, said UIDAI in a response to a query filed by
by Mahedihasan Aliarajak Patel, a Gujarat resident.

In an RTI query, he asked last month, giving reference to the Apex Court judgement in this regard, that how can he exit from the Aadhaar scheme and sought detail process for the same.

On Sept 26, 2018, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had ruled that people who have enrolled before the Act, two years ago, can opt out of Aadhaar. Those who specifically refuse to give consent would be able to exit and children enrolled under parent consent shall be given the right to exit after attaining the age of maturity.

According to a Delhi based lawyer Prasanna S, who assisted the petitioner, the response is not in sync with SC ruling which has specifically directed that persons enrolled before coming into force of the Act need to be given an option to exit Aadhaar. Not only lock their biometrics, he was quoted as saying by Medianama.

A total of 121 crore Aadhaar cards have been issued so far. Aadhaar-based authentications have declined every month since September, except in March, when they rose to 1.125 billion.

Ever since Aadhaar inception, it has been subject to many criticisms for being akin to a mass surveillance system.