Linking Aadhaar card with bank account is not mandatory yet revealed by RBI in RTI report.
This issue continued by most of the bank over a year back to their customers to link Aadhaar with their bank accounts, not only that some of the banks are not ready to open the bank account due to Aadhaar card.
According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) they have not yet issued any instruction to any bank so far regarding mandatory liking of Aadhaar number with bank accounts.
The bank’s response indicates that decision to mandatorily link bank accounts and Aadhaar was taken by the Centre alone, not by Reserve Bank.
“The Government has issued a Gazette Notification GSR 538(E) dated 1 June 2017 regarding Prevention of Money laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017, inter-alia, making furnishing of Aadhaar (for those individuals who are eligible to be enrolled for Aadhaar) and permanent number (PAN) mandatory for opening a bank account. It may be noted that Reserve Bank has not yet issued an instruction in this regard,” the RBI said.
The Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) has questioned the jurisdiction of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in issuing directions to banks under the Aadhaar Act, according to two people aware of the matter.
IBA also asked to the ministry of electronics and information technology, the RBI and the finance ministry’s department services arguing and reaching to end that only the central bank is empowered to issue directives to banks under the Banking Regulation Act, the two people said on condition of anonymity.
Banks are still panicking their customer by SMS services, not linking Aadhaar with the bank account will impose a Rs20,000 fine after 30 September.
Some experts challenged this view. According to S.D. Kelkar, former legal head of SBI, the amendment is framed under Section 54 (n) of the Aadhaar Act. This particular section deals with the general rule-making powers of UIDAI, which included laying down terms and conditions for the appointment of registrars, enrolling agencies and other service providers. It, however, doesn’t empower the authority to make it mandatory for banks to enrol Aadhaar customers, Kelkar explained.
On 14 October, a fresh petition was filed in Supreme Court challenging the government’s decision to link bank accounts and mobile phones to the 12-digit unique identity number issued by UIDAI and it is still on for the decision.
