Aadhaar Verdict: The Supreme Court gave its verdict on 27 petitions that challenged the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar card.
The Aadhaar scheme empowers people on the margins of society and that far outweighs its flaws, the Supreme Court said today, upholding theconstitutional validity of the digital-identity programme, but with conditions. For the exclusion of a “minimal” three per cent, 97 per cent cannot be denied the benefits of Aadhaar, the top court said in a majority judgement, commenting: “One can’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.”A five-judge constitutional bench cleared the use of Aadhaar for access to welfare schemes but struck down attempts to make it mandatory for bank accounts and mobile phone connections.
Here are the top 10 updates on the Aadhaar verdict:
- Private companies cannot demand Aadhaar data – which stores data linked to an individual’s face, fingerprints and iris scans – for access to their services, the court said in its 1,448-page verdict.
- The bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra held that Aadhaar would be voluntary, with an option to exit. “Minimal demographic and biometric data of citizens are collected by UIDAI for Aadhaar enrolment. We are of the view that there are sufficient safeguard to protect data collected under Aadhaar scheme,” it said.
- The 12-digit Aadhaar number has to be linked to citizens’ PAN (Permanent Account Number) information for the filing of tax returns, the court ruled.
- In a four-one verdict, the court also said Aadhaar is not compulsory for school admissions. “No child shall be denied benefits for the want of Aadhaar,” the judges said. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and University Grants Commission (UGC) also can’t make Aadhaar mandatory.
- No person would be denied benefits under the social welfare scheme because of the failure of authentification through Aadhaar. But the court also directed the government not to give Aadhaar to illegal immigrants.
- “As of today, we do not find anything in Aadhaar Act which violates right to privacy of individual citizen,” said the court in its verdict on 27 petitions that had challenged the merits of Aadhaar. The system is serving much bigger public interest, it said.
- “Aadhaar means unique and it is better to be unique than being best. Uniqueness is the fundamental difference between Aadhaar and other identity proofs. Aadhaar cannot be duplicated and it is a unique identification,” the judges said.
- In a minority judgement, Justice DY Chandrachud held that passing the Aadhaar law as money bill was a fraud on the Constitution because it was not a money bill.
- Over one billion Indians have already signed up for Aadhaar, set up to be a secure form of digital identification for citizens to be used for government services. The Unique Identification Number was made compulsory for bank accounts, PAN cards, cellphone services, passport and even driving licenses. It was made the overarching proof of identity and residence, overriding all other prior identity proofs.
- In what became the second longest case with hearings over 38 days, the Centre defended Aadhaar on several grounds – the biggest being that it ensured proper distribution of benefits to millions and prevented siphoning of funds.