The Unique Identification Authority of India’s Hyderabad Regional Office has deactivated as many as 929 Aadhaar cards.
According to a response to a Right to Information query, the UIDAI stated that the cards had been deactivated since 2012. These include the 127 cases which were reported in February this year.
“For illegal immigrants, reports for 127 cases have been received from different police authorities. Fake Aadhaar number is not issued by UIDAI and hence is not an Aadhaar,” an excerpt from the response reads.
As was reported earlier, one of the cases was that of Mohd Sattar Khan . He was accused of obtaining a card ‘fraudulenly’ and was directed to provide documents to prove his claims of citizenship. The incident had caused widespread consternation and outrage among sections of citizens and politicians as well. A hearing with UIDAI officials was scheduled, but was later postponed.
In the response, the UIDIA also revealed the source of several complaints or information of the alleged wrongdoing. It said that of the 127 cases, reports pertaining to 78 cases were received from the ‘Intelligence Department, Govt of Telangana’.
It did not elaborate further, but invoked Section 24 (4) of the RTI Act of 2005 and declined to furnish copies, stating that these enjoyed exemptions. As regards the reports of 49 cases which were received from ‘other authorities’, further information, the UIDAI stated, could not be furnished given the fact that they contained information pertaining to identities of the Aadhaar card holder.
Speaking to The Hindu , activist S Q Masood, who filed the RTI query, said, “There was a lot of confusion as to who lodged a complaint with UIDAI. Was it the law and order police or special branch or any other authority? If a citizen’s credentials are questioned, it is important to know how this system works, which is why I filed the RTI.”
