The Supreme Court on Wednesday will decide on the Centre's plea to allow those voluntarily sharing their Aadhaar card details to avail the benefits of welfare schemes and services provided by the Government. Those not ready to share their Unique Identification Number will have to go through the existing time-consuming process.
Since the validity of Aadhaar card scheme is under challenge before a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, the Centre has approached the court with a request to allow linkage of Aadhaar with Government schemes and services where citizens voluntarily agree to share Aadhaar details. The Centre could not do so on its own due to an August 11 order passed by the court permitting Aadhaar to be used only for lPG and PDS distribution schemes.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who presented the Centre's case, told a three-judge Bench on Tuesday that if the apex court can open its doors for one citizen at 2 am, doors certainly cannot be shut on hundred million people of the country who are denied Aadhaar benefits as the issue is pending with a Constitution Bench.
Supporting the Centre for a modification of the August 11 order were several States and regulatory bodies such as TRAI, SEBI, Insurance Regulatory Authority of India, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, and Reserve Bank of India, each having their own reasons to allow using Aadhaar for those customers willing to share their Aadhaar details.
RBI submitted that transacting money to real beneficiaries under MGNREGA job guarantee scheme is not possible without Aadhaar and some beneficiaries have no other identity proof other than Aadhaar cards. Rohatgi emphasized that Aadhaar was meant for poor and marginalised and not the rich and affluent, and as a result of the court order the poor were unnecessarily being deprived of various Government benefits.
The Bench in an oblique reference to the Centre said that the order to refer the case to a larger Bench was made by the “author” of the Aadhaar scheme. The A-G conceded, “This issue really was not understood by me fully or explained by me fully (sic). Realisation has now come after queries and we decided to move these applications.”
TRAI had informed the court that it planned to make Aadhaar mandatory for sale of SIM cards while SEBI hinted that Aadhaar was instrumental in blocking black money transactions in stock market. IRDA submitted that insurance on cattle and tractors to poor farmers had come to a standstill due to non-submission of Aadhaar while Pension Regulatory Authority stressed that with Aadhaar, transaction of pension becomes simple and paperless. The Bench said, “We see the advantages of Aadhaar. But we are considering to what extent it breaches privacy…after all just because the poor is starving it doesn't mean one doesn't need privacy.”