New Delhi: The Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday that it was not mandatory—for now—to link Aadhaar to obtain a new mobile connection or for existing mobile numbers.
Attorney general K.K. Venugopal, concluding his arguments, clarified that Aadhaar was made optional under an earlier directive of the apex court and that it would remain so until the matter was finally settled by the court.
On 26 April, the Centre reversed its initial stand after conceding that it was not the Supreme Court that had mandated linking of Aadhaar with mobile numbers, but something that was done on the recommendation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
Opposing Aadhaar and calling it the largest self-certification-based identity, Shyam Divan, counsel for the petitioners who are challenging Aadhaar on grounds of privacy, told the constitution bench that the scheme may be technologically brilliant but it was constitutionally impermissible.
If this system were to operate for years together, it would cause a “chilling effect completely destructive of freedom”, he added.
He urged the court to not usher in a surveillance technology, irrespective of its technical brilliance, as fundamental rights were far too valuable to be subjected to surveillance.
“You can’t stop technology, but you always have choices in how and which technology to deploy. For example, you can have local databases instead of a centralised one,” he argued.
Divan also showed the court the screenshots of the Kerala Dairy Board that was tracking location and submitted that this was one among tens of thousands of entities which will have access to such databases.
Curbing terrorism, money laundering, and black money and targeting the delivery of subsidies and benefits have been listed by the Centre as “legitimate state interests” in rolling out Aadhaar.
The matter will be heard next on 8 May.