At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making the use of Aadhar card mandatory across all the services that the 125 crores Indian citizens utilise, its own office does not have the information about the Aadhar card details of their own ministers. The reply provided to RTI Activist Anil Galgali on his query concludes that ministers in the government are themselves showing thumbs at the mandatory registering of the Aadhar card.
Galgali had sought information from the PMO about the names of those ministers including the PM who have submitted the details of their Aadhar card to the PMO. The RTI application filed by Galgali was transferred to 5 different Ministry’s, namely Cabinet Secretariat, Lok Sabha Secretariat, Rajya Sabha secretariat, Information and Technology Ministry, and UIDAI.
“The PM and the minister’s Aadhar details should be available with the Central Govt,” expressed Galgali. He further added that, if the PMO does not have the details of Aadhar card of its own ministers; it means that they themselves have ignored the directions of PM Narendra Modi.
The Under Secretary in PMO, Shri Pravin Kumar specified, “Though the Prime Minister may have the Aadhar nos, the information was rejected under Section 8(1) of the RTI Act 2005. Information which relates to personal information, the disclosure of which has not relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless the Central Public Information officer or State Public Information officer or the appellate authority, as the case may be satisfied that the larger public interest justifies the disclosure of such Information.”
The Public Information Officer, Ashok Kumar said, “The information sought pertains to third party, specified that, the information is about the biometric data and the population hence the secrecy is paramount and the information can be provided only to people related with the data.”
