Mumbai: The Congress protested outside the Churchgate office of the Controller of Rationing and the Director, Civil Supplies Dilip Shinde, demanding that Aadhaar and ration cards be delinked.

In a two-hour meeting with Mr. Shinde, a party delegation led by Congress city president Sanjay Nirupam alleged that the State government was forcing lakhs of people to link ration cards with Aadhaar numbers, despite this not being mandatory under the Aadhaar Act. The Supreme Court has clarified to this effect as well, they said.

Mr. Nirupam said, “This government has de-registered lakhs of ration cards not linked to Aadhaar. This, despite a court order which had categorically stated that Aadhaar cannot be made compulsory to avail welfare benefits from the government.” The Congress claims 22 lakh ration cards were de-registered by the government, in violation of section 7 of the Aadhaar Act.

Later, Mr. Shinde issued a notification that said it isn’t mandatory to link one’s ration card to Aadhaar. “They’ve promised to supply rations under the Public Distribution System without the Aadhaar number,” a Congress leader said. Mr. Nirupam added, “Thousands of ration card holders will be saved trouble because of the changes made by the government today. As many as 1,000 ration shop owners had also supported us in this.”