MUMBAI: On Wednesday, the five judge bench of Supreme Court struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act while upholding the constitutional validity of the scheme. It has led to a big no to compulsory linkage of mobile phone numbers to the unique identification number. In response to the verdict, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) Wednesday said it will examine and assess implications of the Supreme Court judgement.
Section 57 of Aadhaar act permitted private entities like telecom companies and banks to use Aadhaar data.
"We respect the Aadhaar verdict of the Supreme Court, the apex court of India. We are going to review the judgement and its implications. We shall await further orders and instructions from Department of Telecom," COAI director general Rajan S Mathews said in a statement. He also added COAI member operators as will definitely comply with the law.
Justice Chandrachud while reading out the judgement said linking Aadhaar with mobile poses threat to autonomy, dignity and privacy. He added though the aim might be legitimate but the means to achieve that aim cannot be lopsided. He also directed the telecom service providers to delete the data they had collected from users.
As per an Economic Times report, a BSNL official said removing consumer data, if required, won’t be a huge problem as it is largely a software driven function. However, individual telco operators are awaiting a communication from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).