Hyderabad: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), in connection with the alleged theft of data of the 7.82 crore card holders in Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh, announced that companies storing bank account numbers of people without the authorisation to do so would face prosecution under the relevant banking, Information Technology, and data protection laws.
“The same is being done in the case against the Hyderabad based IT Grids (India) Pvt Ltd,” the UIDAI said.
The UIDAI authorities clarified in their communication on social media that no breach or compromise had taken place in UIDAI’s servers with regard to the alleged data theft in the two Telugu states.
Deccan Chronicle had previously reported about the UIDAI pointing fingers at the Andhra Pradesh government for sharing data with IT Grids (India) Pvt Ltd.
The authorities claimed that the data acquired by the state before the Aadhaar Act was in place was allegedly shared by the state government.
The UIDAI authorities said, “The alleged incident has nothing to do with UIDAI’s data and servers. We’ve already explained that the alleged illegal storage and misuse of Aadhaar numbers by IT Grids (India) Pvt. Ltd. is being wrongly projected to make it look like our Aadhaar servers were compromised. Nowhere in the report, however, has the SIT found any evidence that indicates that the Aadhaar numbers, names, addresses, etc. of the people were obtained from UIDAI’s servers.”
The UIDAI further said the mere possession and storage of Aadhaar numbers of people, although perhaps an offence under the Aadhaar Act under some circumstances, does not necessarily put Aadhaar holders at the risk of harm in any manner whatsoever.
In response to queries regarding whether the UIDAI had shared data with IT Grids (India) Pvt Ltd, the authorities said, “If a company is found to be storing bank account numbers of people without the authorisation to do so, then can one claim that the bank’s servers are compromised? Obviously not.” The UIDAI said that the police has been requested to investigate the reason behind the collection and storage of Aadhaar numbers by IT Grids (India) Pvt Ltd.
