If SC upholds govt decision making it mandatory to link your provident fund account with your Aadhar number you are bound to do so
You cannot refuse to do so
Can the Govt force me to part away my Aadhar no?
I'm a law abiding citizen of India. When I started my career 7 years back I became a member of EPF and now I earn more than 80K per month but as per rule I can not opt out of EPF once I became a member of it. So I have an active EPF account which is NOT linked to my Aadhar. The GOI has made Aadhar linking mandatory. Now if the honorable Apex Court verdicts in favor of GoI in November and stays with Govt decision to link Aadhar mandatorily for EPF I have to link Aadhar with my EPF account in order to get govt benefits. But what if I don't need govt benefit or govt money from consolidated fund of India and decline to link my Aadhar can the GOI force me to take the benefit and therefore link my PF account with my Aadhar? If I don't want LPG subsidy I don't link Aadhar. Similarly if I don't want any kind of govt money I should not be forced to link my Aadhar. But as per epfo rules I can not opt out it now. So can the govt force me even if I don't want it? P.S. I have no problem linking it but I am not comfortable with this kind of forceful submission. Please suggest.
Asked 8 years ago in Constitutional Law
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5 Answers
So that means even though I don't want govt money for which govt is making it mandatory I have to take govt money and in order to do so I have to link my Aadhar. What if I chose to become an inactive member of EPF. As per current rule that's not an option at all. But to continue being a beneficiary of this welfare scheme I have to provide Aadhar, can't I choose not to continue with this scheme anymore? Isn't it authority forcing me to become a beneficiary of a service and give my Aadhar when I don't want to be a beneficiary? But after your comment what I have understood is I don't have a choice. Neither I have the choice to become an inactive member of EPF nor I decline linking my Aadhar if the SC upholds govt decision. I hope I would have a choice in this.
Asked 8 years ago
if you have linked your provident fund account with your Aadhaar number you can make online withdrawals from your EPF corpus. Using this facility, you can make final claim settlements, partial withdrawals as well as pension benefit withdrawals.
2) The central government contributes 1.16% of the basic wages as subsidy to every member Employees Pension Scheme Account in addition to 8.33% deposited by their employers every month. Since the government provides subsidy to an EPFO member, it has invoked Section 7 of the Aadhaar (Targetted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act 2016, for the purpose. The Section 7 of the Act provides that where government provides subsidy, benefit or service from Consolidated Fund of India, an individual can be asked to undergo authentication, or furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar number. It also provides that where an individual to whom no Aadhaar number has been assigned, such individual can apply for enrolment.
3) A EPF account cannot be opened and closed like a normal Bank account.
It can be closed only in either of two ways
a)on demise of employee
b) When the Employee has left he job with the Employer
And now with UAN being issued for all the employees it very difficult to close EPF accounts as every new Employer will ask for the UAN from your previous Employer as it’s being made mandatory.
1. Your thinking is right and you should not be forced to part with your Aadhar No. agaisnt your sih.
2. The recent decisison of supreme court on right of privacy as fundamental right also endorses this veiw.
3. Howeevr the issue of mandatory sharing of Aadhar No. agaisnt the wish of the person is beofre the purview of the supreme court which is expected to soon come out with this verdict on this issue.
4. Till then if you do not want to link aadhar then you will have to file writ petition in high court.
The rule says that AADHAR number to be linked for availing the benefits of government.
If you dont link you cannot be forced except you will lose your benefits.
As far as PF rules, you are a beneficiary hence you need to abide by the rules of PF for availing it, if you dont link your aadhar number then you may not be eligible to operate or avail the benefits of the same.
You are a beneficiary of PF scheme, so to avail the benefits you are required to provide the details to the concerned department.
There is no compulsion on you to submit your details if you choose to ignore the benefits and keep away from the scheme henceforth.