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Aadhaar Act, 2016

Legal Basis for Aadhaar-Linked Service Delivery

The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 provides the statutory basis for using Aadhaar authentication to deliver government subsidies, benefits and services funded from the Consolidated Fund of India.

Key details
  • Section 7 permits the Central or State Government to require Aadhaar authentication as a condition for receiving a subsidy, benefit or service, while mandating alternate means of identification where an Aadhaar number has not been assigned
  • The Act was upheld with certain modifications by the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench in the Aadhaar verdict (Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, 2018), including striking down mandatory Aadhaar linkage for private entities such as banks and telecom operators
  • Aadhaar-seeding for farmer registries and scheme delivery operates under this Section 7 framework
In the news

● Tracked since June 16, 2026 · last seen September 23, 2026 · updates as the daily brief publishes

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