Agencies are insisting on the production of Aadhaar cards despite the government extending the deadline.

CHENNAI: From hospital treatment to birth certificates, agencies are insisting on the production of Aadhaar cards despite the government extending the deadline till March 31.

On Thursday night, Chennai resident Jayashree faced hurdles in getting cashless treatment at Fortis Malar. Health insurer Cigna TTK Health Insurance apparently told her that she could not avail of cashless treatment as she did not have an Aadhaar card . Her case created a Twitter storm — with more than 1,300 retweets — and well known figures like Supreme Court lawyer Karuna Nandy and others stepped in to say that the insurer was leaving itself open to civil and criminal litigation as services could not be denied in view of the March 31extension agreed to in the Supreme Court by the government.

Cigna TTK processed the claim late on Thursday night. The company’s CEO, Sandeep Patel, said on Friday, “We were following procedural requirements for mandatory updation of Aadhaar card details. From March 31, 2018, we will not be able to process any claims without Aadhaar. I think there was some miscommunication. The issue has now been resolved.”

But there are other policyholders like N Rajkumar of Bengaluru who allege that their insurance firms have refused to process their claims if Aadhaar details were not provided. “I had to make multiple calls before they accepted my claim for reimbursement. Aadhaar is becoming an instrument to deny services and rights,” Rajkumar said.

Abhishek Baxi, editor, AndroidAuthority.com said he had a baby in November but the Gurugram municipal authorities have so far refused to issue a birth certificate without first enrolling the baby for Aadhaar. “I filed RTIs and in response I got letters from the offices of Haryana CM Manohar Lal and Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to the local body that asks for enrollment for Aadhaar, but nowhere does it mention that it is mandatory for birth certificate,” he said.

“Linking Aadhaar to highvalue real estate transactions, corporate NPA accounts and funding for political parties would be a real gamechanger. Instead, the government is making things difficult for the common man by asking for Aadhaar proof for a Rs 50 SIM cards or a Rs 750 LPG connection,” said Gopal Krishnan, activist, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties.

