No general scheme for adults to opt out of Aadhaar programme as SC did not ask for one, says government

New Delhi: The government on Friday said no general scheme has been created that gives an adult the choice to opt out of the Aadhaar programme as there is no such direction from the Supreme Court. “But, in line with the SC judgement, necessary measures are being undertaken to formulate an exit scheme only for children attaining majority who do not intend to avail themselves of the benefits of the scheme,” Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology SS Ahluwalia said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. [caption id=“attachment_4248619” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] To a question on whether the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had received requests from people wishing to opt out of the Aadhaar scheme, the minister gave an affirmative reply. “No general option to exit from Aadhaar was laid down by the Honourable court as a binding direction and consequently, no such option has been created,” he said. The minister said pursuant to the judgment of the SC in September 2018, “such an exit scheme has only been mandated for children who have been enrolled with the consent of their parents, who shall be given an option to exit on attaining the age of majority provided they do not intend to avail themselves of the benefits of the scheme”. Accordingly, he said, necessary steps to formulate such an exit scheme for children attaining majority are being taken. On whether the UIDAI has prepared plans to delete all Aadhaar data with banks and telecom companies, Ahluwalia said, “According to the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and the Supreme Court order, deletion of Aadhaar data should be done by the concerned entity on the receipt of a request by an Aadhaar holder.”