Validity of 2016 Aadhaar Act: Hearing over, SC reserves orders

A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday reserved orders on the validity of the 2016 Aadhaar Act, bringing an end to a 38-day marathon hearing over four months.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, examined a host of petitions filed by individuals and organizations raising apprehensions that Aadhaar was a tool for state-sponsored surveillance and this affects the dignity and privacy of an individual. Several top notch lawyers including Gopal Subramanium, Kapil SIbal, P Chidambaram, Shyam Divan, Arvind Datar, KV Vishwanathan, Sajan Poovayya among others appeared for the petitioners and questioned the efficacy of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to store biometrics of 130 billion citizens.

Attorney General KK Venugopal led the defence on part of the Centre followed by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi for UIDAI, by presenting a live video demonstration of how the process works, the enhanced safety net for storing biometrics, and the details of the project which make it almost impossible to be hacked or misused. 

The bench, also comprising Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan asked the petitioners whether it was correct to fault the system when it benefited the Government to check pilferage of funds under various welfare scheme and to help track black money hoarders.

The petitioners contended that while issuing a blanket order to link all services, schemes with Aadhaar, the Act was making redundant all other identity documents used by citizens so far. By mandating Aadhaar, there was hardly a choice available with citizens from parting with their valuable biometrics, they argued. Moreover, services like widow pension, provident fund, and scholarships were such services/benefits that accrued to an individual as a matter of right and such benefit could not be deprived for want of Aadhaar. Further, the linking of Aadhaar with mobile phone SIM and banking services was also criticized as excessive, as it did not classify under any scheme or benefit where Government could be interested to protect its revenue.

There was also a challenge to the introduction of the 2016 Aadhaar Act as a Money Bill in Parliament when it essentially was a substantial law in itself. Arguments were advanced by petitioners that such a move was political in a bid to prevent discussion in the Rajya Sabha. However, Centre contended that the law dealt with “targeted delivery of subsidies” for which funds came from the Consolidated Fund of India to justify it as a Money Bill.