Jaitley, PC clash over Dhoni Aadhaar leak

NEWDELHI: Finance minister Arun Jaitley defended the mandatory use of Aadhaar in filing tax returns amid the Opposition’s concern over privacy and data security. After his predecessor, P Chidambaram, raised the fiasco related to former cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Aadhaar details being leaked, Jaitley replied, “It was a case of an immature behaviour and the company has been blacklisted for 10 years. “If the firewalls can be broken and hacking can take place, then hacking will take place anywhere. It is not a ground that hacking takes place only because Aadhaar is there,” Jaitley argued, replying on the finance bill debate in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

In the bill, the government has stipulated that the Aadhaar number must be quoted for filing tax returns for the current financial year. People who do not have an Aadhaar, can apply for one and quote the application number.

The finance minister told the Rajya Sabha that the government feels there is no harm in expanding the usage of Aadhaar. “The fact that technologies can be breached is no argument to not use Aadhaar,” he said.

Congress leaders like Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh and Kapil Sibal raised questions on Aadhaar’s security. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury wanted to know what the penalties are for such offences.

“Aadhaar was an instrument to service. It was never intended to tag it to income tax and bank accounts. Remember, Pentagon has been hacked. What is the guarantee you have to stop hacking of bank accounts and aadhaar accounts?” Chidambaram asked.