The Madras High Court has accepted a petition that challenges a notification mandating linking of Aadhaar with Universal Account Number (UAN) for availing pension and provident fund benefits, according to The Wire. The petitioner, Elisha Ebenezer, a software engineer, challenged a notification dated January 4, 2017 "as void, defective and unconstitutional for being violative of Articles 14, 21 and 300A of the Constitution of India and further contrary to the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in KS Puttaswamy (Retired) v. Union of India (Aadhaar case)”. A division bench of Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad have directed the Employee Provident Fund Organisation to respond. What the petition says It says that initially, the EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund Organisation) issued a notification that mandated linking EPF accounts with pensioners’ Aadhaar. Also, under the Pension Scheme, Aadhaar was required for providing a “digital life certificate” to pensioners under the Jeevan Praman Scheme of the government. Then, a circular in April 2015 said that the Aadhaar number of employees should be recorded to ensure the implementation of this scheme for pensioners. Following that, an interim order passed in October 2015 by the Supreme Court allowed the EPFO to continue recording the Aadhaar of employees for this purpose. The petition recounts that even though the constitutional validity of Aadhaar [Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016] was pending before the SC, the Ministry of Labour and Employment issued a notification in January 2017 “making it mandatory for members of the Employee’s…
