Mumbai

The Bombay High Court on Monday questioned the Centre’s decision of withholding the salary of a port trust employee since 2016 on the grounds that he had not linked his salary account with his Aadhaar.

A Bench of Justices AS Oka and SK Shinde while hearing a petition filed by Ramesh Purale, working as a chargeman with the Mumbai Port Trust, said his salary could not be withheld over failure to link his bank account with his Aadhaar card. Purale had challenged a letter issued to him by the Union Ministry of Shipping in December 2015, asking him to link his bank account, in which his salary was being credited, with Aadhaar. He, however, refused to do so citing his fundamental right to privacy.