Concept of Aadhaar data vault 'fallacious'; adversely impacting purpose: R S Sharma

Representative image (Source: Getty)

National Health Authority CEO and senior member of founding team of Aadhaar R S Sharma on Wednesday criticised some of the restrictions imposed by the Unique Identification Authority of India over use of the unique ID due to apprehensions around privacy.

Sharma, who was the first director general of UIDAI, said that the concept of data vault is fallacious which is adversely impacting the purpose of Aadhaar.

"Aadhaar Act says Aadhaar information should be safely kept. Aadhaar number is not an identity. It (data vault) is like putting all the numbers on the currency notes into some safe vault saying that these numbers will not be disclosed. This is a fallacious way. Once you start with a fallacious foundation then everything else becomes fallacious. You came up with the Aadhaar data vault," Sharma said while speaking at a workshop organised by the UIDAI.

The UIDAI has recently introduced a concept of Aadhaar data vault which is a centralised storage for all the Aadhaar numbers collected by authorised agencies.

The objective of Aadhaar data vault, as explained by the UIDAI, is to reduce the footprint of Aadhaar numbers within the systems and environment of the organisation hence reduce the risk of unauthorised access.

Sharma said that then the UIDAI has come up with concept that Aadhaar shall not be published which is fallacious.

"I mean it’s my Aadhaar. Individual’s number does not belong to the government. I can publish it. How can somebody tell me that if I publish my Aadhaar number you will be jailed. This is another fallacy which has started happening," he said.

"In the name of privacy you should not kill the purpose. Privacy should not compromise functionality. We have unfortunately done it that way. Privacy can be exercised without compromising on full functionality," he said.

Sharma said that the Supreme Court judgement has defined reasonable expectations of privacy and the judgement was followed by an amendment which allows voluntary use of Aadhaar to prove their identity.

(With PTI inputs)