Section 26 - Amendment of section 4 of Act 13 of 1885 - AADHAAR AND OTHER LAWS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2019

PART III AMENDMENT TO THE INDIAN TELEGRAPH ACT, 1885 Amendment of section 4 of Act 13 of 1885. 26. In section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, after sub-section (2), the following sub-sections shall be inserted, namely:- (3) Any person who is granted a license under the first proviso to sub-section (1) to establish, maintain or work a telegraph within any part of India, shall identify any person to whom it provides its services by- (a) authentication under the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016) ; or (b) offline verification under the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016); or (c) use of passport issued under section 4 of the Passports Act, 1967 (15 of 1967); or (d) use of any other officially valid document or modes of identification as may be notified by the Central Government in this behalf. (4) If any person who is granted a license under the first proviso to sub-section (1) to establish, maintain or work a telegraph within any part of India is using authentication under clause (a) of sub-section (3) to identify any person to whom it provides its services, it shall make the other modes of identification under clauses (b) to (d) of sub-section (3) also available to such person. (5) The use of modes of identification under sub-section (3) shall be a voluntary choice of the person who is sought to be identified and no person shall be denied any service for not having an Aadhaar number. (6) If, for identification of a person, authentication under clause (a) of sub-section (3) is used, neither his core biometric information nor the Aadhaar number of the person shall be stored. (7) Nothing contained in sub-sections (3), (4) and (5) shall prevent the Central Government from specifying further safeguards and conditions for compliance by any person who is granted a license under the first proviso to sub-section (1) in respect of identification of person to whom it provides its services. Explanation.-The expressions Aadhaar number and core biometric information shall have the same meanings as are respectively assigned to them in clauses (a) and (j) of section 2 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016). .