Guwahati, March 30: The Assam Public Works (APW), the original petitioner in the Supreme Court which led to the updating of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), has filed an interlocutory application before the apex court seeking its direction to the concerned authorities to unlock the biometric data and issuance of Aadhaar cards to over 27 lakh applicants whose biometric details were collected during claims and objections period of the NRC exercise.
“Out of these applicants, names of about 19 lakh applicants were not included in the Supplementary List of Inclusions published on August 31, 2019. The biometric data of these over 27 lakh applicants have been locked since then, due to which UIDAI has not been able to generate their Aadhaar cards and they can’t now apply for new Aadhaar enrolment, either,” APW stated in the interlocutory application (IA).
In its prayer submitted in the IA before the Supreme Court, APW stated that Aadhaar number to these 27 lakh persons (who are suffering as their biometric data are locked) can only be issued after their biometrics information taken during the NRC process are unlocked by the authorities.
“These people are suffering due to non-issuance of Aadhaar numbers to them,” the NGO stated.
“Linking of Aadhaar with PAN (permanent account number) of the income tax department is necessary and PAN is mandatory for several financial transactions including filing of income tax returns. It has been learnt that the central government is making a law for linking Aadhaar with name in electoral rolls. Several government schemes require Aadhaar,” it stated, while praying that the concerned authorities be directed to issue Aadhaar numbers to these persons.
The Assam government had last Thursday held an interaction with representatives of 27 organisations of the state, including APW, and discussed the issue of non-generation of Aadhaar cards of people whose biometric details were locked during the update of the NRC.
In a statement to the media on Wednesday, APW president Aabhijeet Sharma said that from the NGO’s point of view, he had opined that since Aadhaar was not an evidence of citizenship or domicile, the Aadhaar number or the authentication thereof shall not, by itself, confer any right of, or be proof of, citizenship or domicile in respect of an Aadhaar number holder.
“Aadhaar number neither confers citizenship on any individual nor evidence of citizenship or domicile. Therefore, withholding the process of issuance of Aadhaar number for an indefinite period causes irreparable losses and injuries to the 27 lakh people, among which there are several indigenous people who have been deprived of the benefits of government schemes,” Sharma stated.
“In due course, we will submit an affidavit in the apex court again with a prayer for 100 percent re-verification of the NRC in 23 districts – Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Chirang, South Salmara, Mankachar, Goalpara, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalbari, Kamrup (Rural), Kamrup (Metro), Darrang, Udalguri, Sonitpur, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Morigaon, Nagaon, Hojai, Golaghat, Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi,” he said.