Question : Aadhaar Based e-KYC Norms

(a) whether the Aadhaar based e-KYC has been adopted only for new mobile connections/users excluding the existing mobile users and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;

(b) Whether the Supreme Court has directed the Government to mandatorily link details of all mobile users in the country to their Aadhaar number for identity and address verification;

(c) if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government in this regard and the details of methodology adopted by the Government for the said purpose;

(d) the time by which sim cards issued by the telecom companies are likely to be linked with Aadhaar card;

(e) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government to ensure proper verification of subscribers and address the issue of security concerns pertaining to fake/bogus mobile connections in the country, and

(f) whether the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended the Government that Aadhaar based e-KYC be allowed also for outstation customers who want to get a mobile connection in a particular service area and if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard?

THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS &
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS
(SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued ‘Aadhaar based Electronic-Know Your Customer (E-KYC) process for issuing new mobile connections to subscribers’ on 16.08.2016. This process is an alternative process to documents based process. The existing subscribers had already submitted their Proof of Identity/Proof of Address at the time of enrolment as per the norms prevailing at that point of time.


(b) to (d) Yes Madam, Hon’ble Supreme Court, while disposing off the Writ Petition (Civil) No. 607/2016 filed by Lokniti Foundation V/s Union of India, vide its order dated 06.02.2017 has directed for re-verification of all existing mobile subscribers through Aadhaar based E-KYC process preferably within a period of one year. Action is being taken as per orders of Hon’ble Supreme Court.

(e) For adequate verification of mobile subscribers at the time of enrolment by Telecom Service Providers, instructions have been issued from time to time. The audit of Customer Acquisition Forms is carried out on sample basis to ensure compliance to verification norms and penalties are imposed on non-compliant cases.
To address the issue of fake/ bogus documents, provisions have been made for filing the Police complaints/FIRs.

(f) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) vide its reference dated 20.01.2017 has recommended that Aadhaar based E-KYC process should be permitted for outstation customers also. As such, DoT was already aware of this constraint and had initiated the actions in this issue prior to the reference/recommendations made by TRAI.




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