'How many Muslims, Dalits?': Asaduddin Owaisi slams UIDAI over notices to 127 people; agency abused its powers, alleges Hyderabad MP

Hyderabad: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday slammed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for issuing notices to some people living in Hyderabad on Aadhaar card issue and alleged the agency did not follow rules. The UIDAI on Tuesday said its Hyderabad office sent notices to 127 people for allegedly obtaining Aadhaar numbers on "false pretences" but asserted these had nothing to do with citizenship. Owaisi alleged that the UIDAI did not follow due procedure and abused its powers, which he said resulted in panic among people.

THREAD: UIDAI did not follow due procedure & abused its powers. The result was (understandable) panic among people

First, @UIDAI has no power to verify citizenship. It has few powers to look into some cases of Aadhaar being granted incorrectly (rules 27 & 28) https://t.co/2QlzaOcwVJ

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) February 19, 2020

The Hyderabad MP requested the Telangana Police and UIDAI authorities to reveal the number of Muslims and Dalits in the list of 127 people who were issued notices.

Request @UIDAI & @TelanganaPolice to tell us how many of those 127 listed people are Muslim & Dalit@TelanganaPolice please stop asking for Aadhaar during your “search & cordon” operations. You’re not legally permitted to do so

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) February 19, 2020

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“UIDAI did not follow due procedure and abused its powers. The result was (understandable) panic among people,” he said. “The deputy director in this case made it about verifying citizenship—which they aren’t empowered to do. The identical notices don’t even provide any specific findings of the preliminary inquiry that has to be made. Notices don’t even say what these “false pretences” were,” he said. On the Aadhaar authority’s clarification that the notices were issued following reports from the police, Owaisi wanted the Telangana DGP to confirm if his department shared a list of 127 names with the UIDAI. “Which police officer provided you with this information? Can Telangana DGP confirm if they shared a list of 127 names with UIDAI? Can they tell us on what grounds?” Since the UIDAI has now shifted the responsibility to Telangana police, it was their responsibility to clear the air, the MP added.