Consider the following statements:
- Aadhaar metadata cannot be stored for more than three months.
- States cannot enter into any contract with private corporations for sharing Aadhaar data.
- Aadhaar is mandatory for obtaining insurance products.
- Aadhaar is mandatory for getting benefits funded out of the Consolidated Fund of India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?(2020)
a) 1 and 4 only
b) 2 and 4 only
c) 3 only
d) 1,2 and 3 only
Answer: B
As per a Supreme Court ruling of September, 2018, Aadhaar metadata cannot be stored for more than six months. The Supreme Court has read down Section 2(d) of the Aadhaar Act which allowed storage of such data for a period of five years, to refrain government authorities from storing metadata of transactions.
SC has also struck down Aadhaar Regulation 26(c) which allowed Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to store metadata relating to Aadhaar based authentications or authentication history for private firms. Accordingly, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has directed insurance companies not to mandatorily ask for the Aadhaar details for know-you-customer (KYC) requirements or carry out authentication using e-KYC from UIDAI. Hence, statement 2 is correct and statement 3 is incorrect.
