Aadhaar card verification: The government of India has recently granted an extension of 15 days for public feedback concerning a proposed measure to allow private entities to utilize Aadhaar verification. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has drafted an initiative to enable private and state organizations to conduct Aadhaar authentication. The deadline for feedback was slated for May 5, but it has now been postponed by 15 days. MeitY's draft states that organizations outside of central and state government bodies may now seek consent for Aadhaar verification in select cases.
The government has proclaimed that complete details and justification must accompany such organizations' requests to process Aadhaar authentication. Such organizations must present a comprehensive proposal, and permission will only be granted if proper grounds are established. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology states that if the relevant ministry or government department determines that the proposed use of Aadhaar authentication is in the public's interest, it will forward the request to the central government. The proposal must also be sent to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). In 2018, the Supreme Court declared that the proposal was at a heightened risk of fraudulence.
The Supreme Court decreed that although Aadhaar numbers could be utilized to identify users for state welfare purposes, private organizations could not execute such verification. It should be noted that the Ministry of Finance previously issued a notification approving 22 companies, including Tata, Mahindra, Amazon, and Hero, to verify customer identities utilizing Aadhaar numbers and authenticate other essential data. These companies include Godrej Finance, Amazon Pay (India) Pvt Ltd, Aditya Birla Housing Finance, Tata Motors Finance Solutions, IIFL Finance, Mahindra Rural Housing Finance Ltd, Uniorbit Payment Solutions Ltd, and SV Creditline Ltd.
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