BSNL giving SC mandate the go-by?

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 5

It may send surprise bells ringing, but state-owned BSNL is insisting on the Aadhaar number and biometric verification before the issuance of SIM cards for its mobile services. Connections are being declined on refusal to furnish biometrics.  

The Supreme Court has already clarified that Aadhaar is not mandatory for getting SIM cards until it takes a final view. The government, subsequently, issued instructions to the operators to accept alternative identification documents such as driving licence, passport and voter ID card. The BSNL only recently launched a “family” broadband plan, “BBG Combo ULD 1199 Family”. Among other things, it offered for fee three mobile connections with unlimited local and STD calling on any network within the country without you paying anything.

Incognito ifs and buts were, however, hidden in the offer. The subscribers soon learnt that without charge service was not actually free from encumbrances and Aadhaar was a precondition for getting the connections.

The subscribers were astonished when BSNL officials started asking them to furnish the Aadhaar number for availing of SIMs. “Protests against the uncalled-for verification through Aadhaar against the Supreme Court mandate went unheard,” said a young professional, Pradeep. “I reminded them of the apex court directions and the government instructions. However, BSNL officials categorically asserted that feeding the Aadhaar number was mandatory and a prerequisite for the system to process the case.”

Another subscriber said he unwillingly furnished the Aadhaar number after a BSNL official told him it was only for proof of residence and identity. It did not amount to linking the mobile number with Aadhaar. 

However, he and other subscribers were to find out soon that biometric verification, too, was more of a compulsion than an option. They were asked to visit the BSNL office in Sector 17 for the purpose.  

A senior BSNL officer in the telecom giant’s Sector 17 office agreed that the operator’s insistence on biometrics amounted to verification through Aadhaar, but expressed his helplessness to “do anything about it”. “It is the system’s requirement and we cannot do anything about it. The system refuses to proceed till the Aadhaar number is keyed in,” he said.

Another officer clarified that the submission of Aadhaar and biometrics was a requirement only for connections offered with the family pack.