The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has given time to 127 people in Hyderabad till May 2020 to appear before an inquiry officer and submit original documents to prove that they hadn’t availed the documents under “false pretenses”.
Scroll.in had initially reported that three residents from Hyderbad had been served notices by the UIDAI asking them to prove their citizenship and that they hadn’t obtained their Aadhaar numbers via fraudulent means. The letter was sent by the regional office of the UIDAI, signed by Deputy Director / Inquiry Officer Amita Bindroo.
Burden of proof in the Aadhar notice issue should be on Police department on which report @UIDAIHyderabad issued notice to the Aadhaar card holder to proof their citizenship. pic.twitter.com/X8bdZhepk0
— S.Q.Masood | مسعود (@SQMasood) February 18, 2020
However, the Aadhaar authority, in a press release on Twitter later said that the notices had been served to 127 people and they had been summoned “on the complaints from the State police which suspect them of being illegal immigrants”.
#PressRelease 18 Feb 2020 Aadhaar is not a citizenship document 1/n
— Aadhaar (@UIDAI) February 19, 2020
The UIDAI in its opening statement put forth that the Aadhaar was “not a citizenship document”. In the press release it also said, “Sometimes it becomes necessary to cancel the Aadhaar number when it is found that a resident has obtained it by submitting false biometrics or documents. It is a routine quality improvement process that the UIDAI takes up regularly.”
It emphasized that the notices had “nothing to do with citizenship and cancellation of Aadhaar number is in no way related to the nationality of any resident”.
It also cautioned that “severe errors like forged documents, etc. lead to appropriate actions including suspending / cancelling the Aadhaar.”
The clarification of the UIDAI came after it faced a severe backlash from ordinary citizens. Hyderabad MP Assaddudin Owaisi said in a tweet, “Section 9 of Aadhaar Act says that it isn’t proof of citizenship. What legal authority does UIDAI have to demand proof of citizenship? The notices don’t even mention the grounds on which they were issued. This is illegal & unacceptable.”
The notice served by the UIDAI to one of the persons, Mohd Sattar Khan, which would supposedly identical to the other 126 people clearly asks them to appear before the Enquiry officer “with all necessary documents in original to prove all your claims of citizenship and if you are not an Indian National, to prove that you have entered the territory of India legally and your stay is valid”. However, the press release by the UIDAI states that the Aadhaar isn’t a citizenship document.
Hence, if by saying that Aadhaar is not a citizenship document, on what basis has the UIDAI then asked the people to prove their claims of citizenship?
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