Salary Cannot Be Stopped Due To Aadhaar Linking Issue With Bank Account – High Court
The Bombay High Court cited Supreme Court verdict on the Aadhaar linking issue.
In a very crucial judgment, Bombay High Court has directed that an employer cannot withhold salary of any employee, if his/her Aadhaar is not linked with bank account.
Who was the employer here? And why was salary withheld?
Keep reading to find out more…
Salary Stopped By Govt. Due To Aadhaar Issue
Ramesh Purale was working as a chargeman with the Mumbai Port Trust, which is an autonomous corporation wholly owned by the Government of India.
In December 2015, Mumbai Port Trust ordered all employees to link their bank accounts with Aadhaar card. Ramesh refused, citing his privacy protection.
He replied to a letter by Union Ministry of Shipping regarding this issue, wherein he stated that his Fundamental Right to Privacy was being breached by this order.
The letter had asked all employees to link their salary bank account with Aadhaar, and if not, the salary would be withheld.
As Ramesh refused to link his Aadhaar with salary account, he stopped receiving salary effective July, 2016.
Bombay High Court: You Cannot Stop Salary Due To Aadhaar
Earlier this month, Ramesh filed a case in Bombay High Court regarding this issue.
A division bench of justices A S Oka and S K Shinde gave a verdict in favor of Ramesh, saying that no employer can withhold salary of any employee, due to non-linking of Aaddhar with bank account.
The Bench said, “We have perused the apex court’s judgement. Prime facie, we are of the view that the petitioner’s salary cannot be withheld on the ground that there is failure to link Aadhaar card with the bank account,”
The Bench cited Supreme Court order dated September 26th, wherein a 5-Judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had struck down Section 57 of Aadhaar Act, saying that private companies cannot force compulsory linking of Aadhaar with any service.
Besides, the Supreme Court also ordered all telecom companies to delete Aadhaar data which they had accumulated. Infact, this order has out to risk more than 50 crore telecom users in India, who have used only Aadhaar for KYC.
This recent ruling by Bombay High Court has now set a new precedent when it comes to blocking salaries due to Aadhaar issue. The petitioner will also get arrears, along with withheld salary. Next hearing is on January 8th.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.
