Owaisi lashes out at UIDAI for issuing notices to 127 people in Hyderabad

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi lashed out at Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for issuing notices to 127 people in Hyderabad asking them to prove their citizenship.

He reacted to the clarification given by Aadhar's body that the notices issued have nothing to do with citizenship and asked if the UIDAI will suspend the deputy director for issuing the notice which said verification of citizenship (not the validity of Aadhaar).

Owaisi further asked the Aadhaar's body and Telangana police to tell how many of those 127 people were Muslim and Dalit. He also requested the police to stop asking Aadhaar card during cordon and search operations. He alleged that the action was an example of biased exercise of the powers.

" UIDAI did not follow due procedure & abused its powers. The result was (understandable) panic among people

First, @UIDAI has no power to verify citizenship. It has few powers to look into some cases of Aadhaar being granted incorrectly (rules 27 & 28)," Owaisi tweeted.

In a series of tweets, Owaisi said that section 9 of the Aadhaar act says that it is not proof of citizenship. What legal authority does UIDAI have to demand proof of citizenship, he questioned adding that the body even did not mention the grounds on which they were issued.