TELANGANA HC BARS GOVT FROM COLLECTING AADHAAR, OTHER DETAILS FOR DHARANI PORTAL

Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been holding rallies to create awareness about ‘Dharani portal’ which is a one-stop solution to all land related problems. Aadhaar and other personal details are mandatory for opening the website. But the state High Court has directed the government not to collect details such as Aadhaar, caste, etc. for the registration and updation of land records in the Dharani website.

Without Aadhaar card details one cannot upload their Aadhaar number in order to continue with the registration of the land on Dharani. Dharani is a web portal, launched by the Telangana government recently for the maintenance of digital records of agricultural and non-agricultural lands in Telangana. The court told the government that it cannot insist on people furnishing data such as Aadhaar, caste, details of family members etc. The court observed that there are existing instructions from the Supreme Court that authorities should not collect details of Aadhaar, caste etc and the same is against the Aadhaar Act as well.

But the problem is that without an Aadhaar card number, the portal cannot be opened. As registrations through Dharani have already begun, the Court has also directed the government that the data shared so far by the public should not be shared with any third party. It stated that the government should ensure that the data is not compromised, which is a threat to the right to privacy of the public.