Read the step-by-step process
The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme as Constitutionally valid. The apex court's five-judge Constitution bench said Aadhaar means unique and it is better to be unique than being best. The first of the three judgements was pronounced by Justice A K Sikri.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, also comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, had on May 10 reserved the verdict on the matter after a marathon hearing that went on for 38 days, spanning four-and-half months.
As many as 31 petitions, including one by former High Court judge K S Puttaswamy, have been filed in the matter.
Among the judgments, the Supreme Court said that Aadhaar is not compulsory to link with bank accounts or your mobile number.
A number of people, out of compulsion, had linked their bank accounts with their Aadhaar, but now they can delink it.
According to the "Compendium of Regulations, Circulars and Guidelines" for authentication of Aadhaar-based e-KYC, available on the official website of UIADI (Unique Identification Authority of India), an Aadhaar number holder is entitled to delink his biometric details shared with any authorised agency or service provider.
The compendium says, "The Aadhaar number holder may, at any time, revoke consent given to a KUA for storing his e-KYC data or for sharing it with third parties, and upon such revocation, the KUA shall delete the e-KYC data and cease any further sharing."
Aadhaar delinking can be done by submitting an application to the branch of the bank where the customer has an account stating the reason for revoking her consent. A similar application can be submitted to concerned telecom operator for Aadhaar delinking.
Here are the steps you can follow.
1. Step 1
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Customers are requested to call on the required customer care numbers of their banks or their private wallet firms such as Paytm and Ola.
2. Step 2
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The customer care service representative is then told to send you an e-mail to unlink your Aadhaar.
3. Step 3
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Users will then receive an e-mail which will ask you to attach a clear softcopy of your Aadhaar. An individual is required to reply to the mail with the picture of Aadhaar card.
4. Step 4
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The bank or the private wallet firm will send you a mail confirming that your Aadhaar will be unlinked within 72 hours
