Linking Aadhaar with bank account: No instruction from RBI reveals RTI

Although the Supreme Court has restricted the usage of Aadhaar to six schemes, the Central government has made it mandatory to link Aadhar for over 50 centrally-sponsored schemes.

The RBI has said that it has not issued any instruction so far regarding mandatory linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts.

The RBI revealed the information in response to an RTI application filed by Yogesh Sapkale of news website moneylife.in.

In its reply the RBI said, "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".

Although the Supreme Court has restricted the usage of Aadhaar to six schemes, the Central government has made it mandatory to link Aadhar for over 50 centrally-sponsored schemes.

Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act says giving the Aadhaar number is required for receiving benefits or services for which expenditure comes from Consolidated Fund of India. But a person who is a bank customer mostly uses his or her own money for the account, and not from the Fund, the article also states.

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