Response

Aadhaar is accepted as a identity proof for property registration and land mutation. It if further mentioned that production of Aadhaar is not a mandatory requirement for registration of property documents, as there is no such provision in the Registration Act, 1908,” the Delhi government said.

Use of Aadhaar is not mandatory to register property so far. However, chances of it being mandatory in the national capital are high since the Delhi High Court (HC) is in process of taking a decision over the matter.

The HC has, in fact, given time to the centre, the Delhi government and the UIDAI till November 20, 2019, to respond to a plea that seeks linking of Aadhaar with property documents in order to curb corrupt practices. However, land is a state matter and a central law or a judgement by an HC cannot be binding on other states.

With the Supreme Court in September last year upholding the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar, the 12-digit identity card now acts as a legal proof of identity and address for over 1.2 billion holders.

However, since the top court has scrapped certain key provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, in order to protect privacy and data breach, the biometric identity would not be mandatory to avail of several services.

Private entities such as telecom operators, banks, educational institutes and other players can no longer ask you to provide Aadhaar card details to issue SIM cards, create banks accounts, give admissions in schools or to pay off salary or pension.Aadhaar would, however, remain crucial for carrying out property transactions, albeit in a round-about manner.

Reference: Registration Act, 1908

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