New Delhi: The decision taken by the government to use Aadhaar to make benefits reach the genuine and deserving, contain money laundering and protect collection of taxes is logical, the Supreme Court remarked on Thursday. But the Supreme Court asked the Centre about Aadhaar being made mandatory for every transaction. “There comes the problem,” Justice DY Chandrachud observed, wondering if this will help in meeting the test of proportionality.
Justice DY Chandrachud is one among the five judges appointed for the constitution bench hearing a bunch of 27 petitions by challenging the citizen identification programme. The petitioners contend that the programme which is powered by a law passed through parliament in the year 2016, invaded the privacy of people.
The law of 2016 empowers the government to order people to submit their Aadhaar to identify themselves to gain access not just to subsidies, but practically any service or facility provided by the government.
“You (centre) want Aadhaar for each and every activity. You have issued 144 notifications. Why do you need cellphone linked to Aadhaar? You consider every individual as a terrorist or violator?” Justice AK Sikri asked.
The top attorney of the Centre, KK Venugopal gave a prompt response that the people were asked to link Aadhaar because there were terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir easily got SIM cards. The judges were not convinced with the reply.
The centre’s top law officer KK Venugopal promptly responded that people were asked to link Aadhaar because terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir easily got SIM cards. The judges weren’t convinced.
“We are not questioning the wisdom of the government but I don’t think terrorists get SIM cards. They use satellite phones,” Justice Chandrachud shot back.
The Apex Court had last month put on hold a government order that made it mandatory for the people to link their mobile phone numbers to Aadhaar by the end of March, by ordering that the government cannot disconnect phones for non-compliance till the judges decided the Aadhaar case.
The government mandated the rule on the grounds of a 2017 verdict by the Supreme Court that approved verification of the identity of pre-paid mobile subscribers.
A nine-judge bench of the Supreme Court had last year held that privacy of a person is a fundamental right, a question that was asked by the NDA government which cited that the constitution makers did not intend to make privacy a fundamental right. The argument made at that time seemed an attempt by the government to take more time. The Aadhaar law was pushed by the government months later.
“What’s the use of fundamental right of privacy when people are starving,” the centre’s attorney argued in the Supreme Court on Thursday, insisting that Aadhaar scheme doesn’t violate the right to privacy.
Justice Sikri, however, argued that how people could be forced to give up one right to access another. “If we go by your logic, then can a person say give food, clothing and shelter, I will be your slave?” he countered.
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