The Unique Identification Authority of India on Thursday dismissed news reports that mobile numbers verified using Aadhaar will be disconnected after the Supreme Court order. The authority said the reports are untrue and create “unnecessary panic” among people.

UIDAI said that the Supreme Court had only ordered that new SIM cards cannot be authenticated using Aadhaar.

“The honourable Supreme Court in its judgement in Aadhaar case has nowhere directed that the mobile number which has been issued through Aadhaar eKYC [e-Know Your Customer] has to be disconnected,” the UIDAI said in a joint statement with the Department of Telecommunications. “Therefore, there is absolutely no reason for panic or fear at all. People should not believe in such rumours. The court has also not asked to delete all the eKYC data of telecom customers after six months.”

“In the light of the verdict, if anybody wishes to get her or his Aadhaar eKYC replaced by the fresh KYC, she or he may request the service provider for de-linking of their Aadhaar by submitting fresh official documents,” the Aadhaar authority said. “But in any case his mobile number will not be disconnected.”

UIDAI said that the court had asked the Aadhaar authority to merely delete the authentication logs of customers after six months. “The restriction [on keeping logs] is on UIDAI and not on the telecom companies,” the Aadhaar authority said. “Therefore there is no need for telecom companies to delete authentication logs. In fact, they are required to keep authentication logs at their end as per Aadhaar regulations to resolves any consumer grievances.”