The Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identification number that every resident of India is entitled to get after he furnishes his demographic and biometric information. The Aadhaar number serves as proof of identity but not as a proof of citizenship or domicile.

While linking the Aadhaar with various transactions received major outcry from the public, the implementation of this scheme itself gained major criticism from a wide spectrum of people.

A major concern raised by people opposing the creation and linking of Aadhaar has been the idea of 'privacy'. While on the contrary, people supporting the Aadhaar networking always vouched for the entire process to bring in more transparency.

India's Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri late last year suggested that the linking of Aadhaar card with property transactions was a good idea but later denied the existence of any proposal in the parliament to make Aadhaar linkage mandatory for property transactions.

The Real Estate sector in India has been blamed for involving a huge amount of black money and other unfair policies. The government aimed measures like Demonetization, RERA and The Benami Property Act 2016 towards making this sector more transparent and trustworthy. Linking Aadhaar or the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number to property transactions also aims to achieve the same objective.

As per media reports, BJP leader advocate Ashwini Upadhyaya recently filed a PIL for linking Aadhaar with property transactions.

The PIL read, "Since most people already have an Aadhaar number, asking them to link it to their property documents is a better option. The main advantage of this strategy is that the tax authorities will get details about 'legal owners' (owner as per property documents) immediately. Several historical property deals might have happened in fictitious names and they will get stuck immediately.

Several black money hoarders also used to register properties in other's name (e.g. in the name of servants, some family members who are poor, etc.) after getting their signatures. In these cases, the original property documents are kept by the 'original owners' and in most cases, they also keep power of attorney signed by 'legal owners'. Once the Aadhaar linkage happens, tax authorities can approach the 'legal owners' and it can be treated as benami property if the 'legal owners are unaware of or deny knowledge of the ownership'. Even if the 'legal owner' takes onus and claims that it is his property, he needs to show the 'source of income' for buying that property."

We list below the several advantages and disadvantages of linking Aadhaar with property transactions,

ADVANTAGES

• The biggest advantage of linking Aadhaar to all property transactions is to help various government agencies to keep a check on unlawful real estate transactions. Aadhaar based land transactions will prevent duplicity and also establish the identity of sellers and purchasers.
• Aadhaar card linking will create a central database of ownership of each property and it will be relatively easier for the tax departments to find out if the owner of a property is paying the taxes he is supposed to and whether his income is sufficient to justify ownership of property. If it is not, it is clear that the property is a benami one, which can be seized by the government.
• Many people have privacy concerns about Aadhaar linkage but this fear can be addressed by erecting firewalls that restrict access to Aadhaar details like the US has done with reference to its Social Security Number (SSN).
• While many entities can have access to your Aadhaar information, the Aadhaar Act provides for two safeguards. One is that the requesting entity must inform you about the use it proposes to make of your identity information. The second safeguard is that the requesting entity cannot publish or display your Aadhaar number (or your core biometric information, but that is not accessible to a requesting entity in the first place). Note, however, that nothing prevents a requesting entity from publishing or displaying other identity information, as long as it has informed the concerned person.

DISADVANTAGES

• Privacy concern has always been on people's minds, be it a question to link Aadhaar with bank accounts or LPG cylinder distribution. People believe that the project would necessarily entail violation of privacy and civil liberties of the people.
• It remains unclear whether biometric technology is capable of being duplicated.
• The move to link Aadhaar to property transactions is bound to have repercussions in the real estate sector. Experts believe that the real estate sector which has slowed down because of demonetization will take longer to recover.

The government is yet to take any action on linking real estate transactions to Aadhaar.