New Delhi: The Supreme Court ruling over Aadhaar scheme and striking down of Section 57 of the Aadhaar act was hailed by the Congress party and termed it as a “slap on the face of BJP”. The Section allowed private companies to gain access to Aadhaar data.

The Top court today declared that the Aadhaar scheme introduced by the Central government was constitutionally valid.

“We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act. Private entities are no longer allowed to use Aadhaar for verification purposes,” the Congress said on its Twitter handle minutes after the verdict.

Congress national spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the delinking of Aadhaar from private entities a “slap on the face of BJP”.

“Slap on the face of BJP. Justice Sikri judgement strikes down Section 57 of Aadhaar Act, 2016, which says private body corporates can seek Aadhaar data. Says it’s unconstitutional. All plans to monetise biometric data now fail,” he tweeted.

He welcomed the Apex Courts move to disallow metadata to be stored in current form.

“If the information of a person’s personal information is sought to be released, he or she shall have an opportunity to be heard. SC rightly appreciated brilliant idea in origin; protected its core; promoted its development and eliminated its flotsam & jetsam. SC brilliantly threw out #bjp #modi accumulated dirty bathwater and saved the baby. Org intent of UPA ie to give identity 2 marginalized ppl now shines (sic),” he said.

The bench comprised of five judges headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, who said that Aadhaar is solely meant to provide help in getting benefits to those people, who are marginalized sections of society and it also takes into account the dignity of people.

The Supreme Court further commented over the scheme of Aadhaar and said that it was serving bigger public interest. The meaning of Aadhaar is uniqueness, and it is better that it be kept unique than be the best, it said.

The Aadhaar scheme has been the center of controversy as the central government went on to allow private entities to gain access to Aadhaar data and making it mandatory for services likes banking, telecom etc. The ruling will bring a sigh of relief to the citizens as they longer will have to link their Aadhaar number with such companies.

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