There have been numerous petitions received by the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar. The world’s largest biometric identification database has been mired in privacy concerns, amid fear that data of millions of Indians may be compromised.
All these concerns have led the Supreme Court to come out with an order that extends, indefinitely, the deadline for linking Aadhaar with various services such as existing bank accounts and health insurance policy.
Making its stance clear, the insurance regulator IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) has said that Aadhaar is not required to buy an insurance policy. It released a circular that stated, “In view of the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India for existing insurance policies, the date of linking Aadhaar is extended till the matter is finally heard and the judgment is pronounced by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India”.
Further to this, IRDAI said that customers buying new insurance plan will be given 6 months from the date of the policy to submit their Aadhaar number, failing which, they will need to submit any “officially valid documents” as mentioned in the Prevention of Money-Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005.