The government is working on a new digital customer verification process for telecom firms for issuing mobile connections even as it allayed fears that numbers issued using Aadhaar would be discontinued following the Supreme Court ruling that barred the use of the biometric ID by private firms.

Officials of the department of telecom (DoT) had discussions with telecom operators on alternative mechanism for verification which would be compliant with the Supreme Court directive.

Officials said several options were being discussed and nothing had been finalised so far.

“In the proposed process, live photograph of the person with latitude, longitude, and time stamp will be captured. The photo of ID such as voter ID, will be captured. The SIM card agent will be authenticated through OTP and a SIM card will be issued. This process will be completely hassle-free and digital,” officials said.

The telecom department and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) are in the process of bringing out a completely hassle-free and digital process for issuing new SIM cards through a mobile app, which will be fully compliant with the Supreme Court judgment on Aadhaar case.

Meanwhile, industry association COAI said mobile service customers who want to get their Aadhaar details deleted from the records of their telecom operators can do so by providing another valid documents for verification.

“Telecom players had a meeting with the DoT and they have been clarified that customers willing to get their Aadhaar details deleted from telecom operator data base should be allowed to do so against a valid identity and address proof,” COAI director-general Rajan S. Mathews said.

He said operators will need some time to verify the documents shared by customers but their connections will continue till the fresh documents are verified.

Allaying concerns over the discontinuation of Aadhaar-verified numbers, the government said “the Supreme Court in its judgment in the Aadhaar case has nowhere directed that the mobile number issued through Aadhaar e-KYC has to be disconnected”.

The DoT and the UIDAI in a joint statement said the Supreme Court had also not asked for deletion of the electronic-KYC data of telecom customers after six months.

“What the apex court has asked is that the UIDAI should not keep the authentication log for more than six months. The restriction of not keeping the authentication log beyond six months is on the UIDAI and not on the telecom companies,” it added.

DoT-UIDAI said telecom companies are required to keep authentication logs at their end under Aadhaar regulations to resolve any consumer grievances.

“In the light of the SC verdict, if anybody wishes to get his/her Aadhaar eKYC replaced by a fresh KYC, he/she may request the service provider for delinking of his/her Aadhaar by submitting fresh identification documentation,” it said.

The Supreme Court, it said, has prohibited the issue of new SIM cards through the Aadhaar authentication process because of a lack of a law. “There is no direction to deactivate the old mobile phones,” the statement added.