Aadhar linkage mandatory for Bank accounts says RBI.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Saturday made it clear that Linking Adhar number with the bank accounts is mandatory. The government of India has brought a rule in this regard that the banks have to abide by.

In a official statement , The Reserve Bank clarifies that, in applicable cases, linkage of Aadhaar number to bank account is mandatory under the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017 published in the Official Gazette on June 1, 2017.

The RBI’s clarification came as a response to some media reports saying linkage of Aadhar number with Bank account is not mandatory. This section of media has their source on a reply by the apex court to a RTI application that RBI has not issued any mandatory direction to the banks for linkage of Aadhar number with bank accounts.

But banks don’t need further instruction from the RBI on mandatory connection of Aadhar number with bank account, as the Money-laundering Rule 2017, the apex court states ,” have statutory force and, as such, banks have to implement them without awaiting further instructions”

In June this year the Government of India has made Aadhar mandatory for opening of bank accounts and for the existing accounts, it set the deadline 31 December 2017 before which they must be linked with account holder’s Aadhar number issued by Unified Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). On failing, the account would cease to stay operational.

Aadhar is the world’s largest ID programme of the Government of India that provides a unique-Identity number of 12 digits, to a resident of India on the basis of their bio-metric and demographic data.

The government’s direction of making Aadhar linkage mandatory with the bank account and mobile numbers has triggered controversy connecting right to privacy.