Ravi Shankar Prasad bats for linking Aadhaar with driving licence, says move would curb forgery

Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stated that driver’s licences may be linked with Aadhaar card to check forgery, reports said.

“Duplicate driving license could not be made if Aadhar becomes mandatory for it,” Prasad told the All India Radio, according to a report in The Indian Express .

“Aadhar is playing a vital role in checking corruption. Rs 1,47,677 crore has been saved due to digital identity through Aadhar,” the law minister said at the 75th-anniversary celebrations of Bihar Industry Association in Patna on Saturday.

Prasad’s remarks, which go against the Supreme Court order dated 26 September, 2018, that disallowed verification of driving licences using Aadhar number, is likely to reopen the debate over the usage of Aadhaar.

Besides, in July 2019, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari had even told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that his “Ministry in compliance to the order of the Supreme Court dated 26 September 2018… stopped the process of verification using Aadhaar for the driving licences”.

The Supreme Court had in its order, passed with 4:1 majority, removed some provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016. The top court stated that no person’s personal rights can be impinged upon for lack of a unique ID.

The Union minister also inaugurated Bihar’s first “Aadhaar Sewa Kendra” in Patna on Saturday. The centre will operate for 6 days and have 16 centres. “We are going to set up 154 similar ‘Aadhaar Sewa Kendra’ in 53 cities across the country,”  The Times of India  quoted the law minister as saying.