There are about a billion SIM cards in use in India. So when 15 illegally acquired cards were unearthed by the Goa police it was the tip, of the tip, of the tip, of the tip….. of the proverbial iceberg. These ghost users could be harmless or potential terrorists and the law places a burden on telecom companies to scrutinise all information provided by people acquiring a SIM card. In reality, this is not always the case. Lapses happen on account of enthusiastic agents who are more focused on their daily earning than procedure. In some cases documents submitted were fraudulent and signatures forged. In the normal course nothing might happen and the user could use the card for years. But procedures are put in place to take care of the one time when something goes wrong. It is becoming increasingly clear that telecom companies are not taking this responsibility seriously and the only way to force a change in habit is by imposing fines. According to the law telecom companies can be fined up to Rs 50,000 for each violation. Another way to getting around this problem is by making it mandatory to link sale of SIM cards to Aadhaar cards and finger prints as one company did.
