"No
person should be denied any benefits or "suffer" for not having the
Aadhaar cards issued by Unique Identification Authority of India."
Clearing
all doubts about the validity of Aadhaar card to avail of government
subsidies, the Supreme Court on Monday confirmed that the Aadhar card is
not compulsory, and further, officials who insist on them will be taken
to task.
A
fuming Supreme Court issued a stern warning to the government on
learning that many government authorities still insist on Aadhaar for
providing government subsidies and basic services to ordinary citizens.
A
Bench of Justices J. Chelameswar, S.A. Bobde and C. Nagappan clarified
that demands made by officials for Aadhaar card is in clear violation of
the Supreme Court's interim order of September 23, 2013.
In
the 2013 order, the apex court had directed that “no person should
suffer for not getting the Aadhaar card, inspite of the fact that some
authority had issued a circular making it mandatory”.
The
court's summary dismissal of Aadhaar card's validity comes at a time
when over 750 million Aadhar numbers have already been generated.
“Aadhaar
is being insisted upon by various authorities. We do not want to go
into specific instances. We expect the Union of India and all the States
to adhere to the order dated September 23, 2013. We will take the
officers concerned to task if any order comes on record making it
(Aadhaar) mandatory,” Justice Chelameswar observed.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Aadhaar scheme as an encroachment into the public's right to privacy.
“It
is a matter of great public importance. The issue has serious
implication in terms of Constitution. Notwithstanding the court's order,
there is insistence for Aadhaar. There is complete apathy on the part
of officials,” senior advocate Gopal Subramanium, representing one of
the petitioners and Bangalore-resident, Mathew Thomas, submitted.
As
an example, he referred to NCT government's notification on March 9,
2015, insisting that couples require Aadhaar cards to get their marriage
registered under the Special Marriage Act.
In
fact, senior advocate Anil Divan pointed out that the Bombay High Court
Registrar had recently received an official communication asking him to
make Aadhar mandatory for disbursal of salary to staff and even judges.
“You
better advise the States, if the officials insist, it would have
consequences. We will take them to task. This is absolutely not right,”
Justice Chelameswar observed.
Mr.
Subramanium argued that collection of personal data of residents of
India under the Aadhaar scheme is not exactly a government activity, but
outsourced to private contractors.
“On
the surface it (Aadhaar) is a simple document of identity, but it has
linkages by means of iris scans and biometric details. God forbid if
identities are exchanged or mistaken. the Executive's scheme involves
private partners. Who are these private partners?” Mr. Subramanium
submitted.
Submitting
how the ordinary man is now prone to the perils of identity fraud, Mr.
Subramanium said the “Sovereign State also has the duty to protect its
citizens, to protect his identity, his personal information against
possible misuse”.
Source : http://www.thehindu.com/
