UIDAI chief directs Andhra Pradesh government to delete Aadhaar data from official websites
In April, two government websites published Aadhaar data, including information about citizens’ caste and religion.
Unique Identification Authority of India Chairperson J Satyanarayana on Wednesday told the Andhra Pradesh government to take down Aadhaar data from its official websites, The New Indian Express reported. Satyanarayana also advises the government on matters related to information technology.
“Publication of Aadhaar and related information on any website is prohibited under the Aadhaar Act, 2016,” he said at the Collectors’ Conference in Vijayawada on Wednesday. “In some state government websites, remnant data is available. I request all the departments to check their websites and remove the data and ensure that it is not available even in the future.”
Last month, a government department reportedly uploaded online the Aadhaar data of 89 lakh workers employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Another department had also published online the Aadhaar data of over 1.34 lakh citizens, along with information about their caste and religion.
Principal Secretary (Information Technology) K Vijayanand told district collectors and officials to seek the help of Andhra Pradesh Cyber Security Operations Centre for matters related to cyber security.