Nearly all of us have had our banks send us intimation emails or SMSs informing that our accounts will be closed if not linked with Aadhaar. Many of us have already linked our PAN to the 12-digit unique identification number.
Banks claim that their directive is as per the Government of India order. However, the RBI has issued no such regulation in this regard, as revealed by a Right To Information (RTI) application filed by Yogesh Sakale, reported Money Life.
The RBI’s response says, “The Government has issued a Gazette Notification GSR 538(E) dated 1 June 2017 regarding Prevention of Money laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017, inter-alia, making furnishing of Aadhaar (for those individuals who are eligible to be enrolled for Aadhaar) and permanent number (PAN) mandatory for opening a bank account. It may be noted that Reserve Bank has not yet issued instruction in this regard“.
The central bank added that it “has not issued any instruction so far regarding mandatory linking of Aadhaar number with bank accounts.”
Moreover, the RTI also revealed that there is no petition filed in the Supreme Court by the RBI to gain explicit permission for asking customers to link bank accounts with Aadhaar.
Via TheLogicalIndian
