In a major relief to the common man, the Union Telecommunications Ministry has announced yesterday that mobile connections of customers (of various service providers) would stay intact even if those mobile numbers are not linked to the respective Aadhaar Card numbers held by the customers.

Some time back, the Telecom Ministry made it mandatory to link Aadhaar card numbers with the cellphone numbers of customers. Several cases were filed with the Supreme Court against this order. The Centre had earlier given time till 06th December for customers/people to link their respective mobile phone connections with their Aadhaar card numbers to ensure continuous service by cellphone companies.

Speaking to newsmen in New Delhi yesterday, Union Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundarrajan announced that cell-phone services of people won’t be disconnected by the respective service providers even if the numbers are not linked to the respective Aadhaar card numbers held by them. “We shall continue to await the Supreme Court’s decision in this regard,” she told a packed news conference.

Union Communications Minister Majoj Sinha made it clear that the Govt.’s intention was not to disconnect mobile phone services to the people but to ensure continuous services by cell-phone companies. “We only want to ensure that nothing is misused,” he said even as mobile service providing firms continue to flood their customers with messages/audio alerts about linking their Aadhaar numbers with cell-phone numbers.