Aadhaar judgment a partial success, say petitioners

BENGALURU: Petitioners against the implementation of the controversial Aadhaar scheme are now contemplating filing a curative petition following Wednesday’s Supreme Court judgment. They contend that the Supreme Court has not been apprised about the technical complications in the scheme which will lead to more cases of mistaken identities.

The petitioners say they will go through the 1,488-page judgment before deciding on the course of action.
One of the first anti-Aadhaar petitioners from Karnataka, Col (retd) Matthew Thomas, described the judgment as a ‘partial success’. “We should think of measures to get rid of it permanently,” he said, noting that none of the concerns regarding the use of biometrics have been addressed.

READ| How to delink Aadhaar details shared with private firms

He said that if the court has to scrap the scheme, it is essential to highlight the flaws in the biometric system. The Act would have been struck down if lawyers had succeeded in exposing the national security implications of the project, he added.

Judgment is a balancing act

Another petitioner, Maj Gen (retd) Sudheer Vombatkere, said the judgment was a ‘fine balancing act’ between the demand to scrap the scheme and to stipulate regulations for it. “However, the devil is in the details,” he said and added that there is no clarity regarding the features to opt out of Aadhaar or regarding Aadhaar numbers already seeded with bank accounts.

“There are directions that enrolment agencies should delete data collected by them in six months. But there is no clarity on who will be the monitoring agency. And what about the biometric Aadhaar data already seeded with bank accounts? How can one opt out of Aadhaar if he does not want to avail any subsidised benefits? These are among the questions that remain to be answered,” he added.

READ| Money Bill or not: The debate surrounding Aadhaar law

Proponent Nandan Nilekani has welcomed the SC decision. Nilekani, former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India under whom the scheme was launched, took to Twitter to welcome the decision. He tweeted: “Aadhaar has undergone the ultimate scrutiny in the highest court, and a lot of recommendations have been incorporated. Through the democratic process of discussion and debate, we have created a better and stronger Aadhaar together.”