The Government’s plan to clear the decks for providing services and benefits under social welfare schemes through Aadhaar on a purely voluntary basis got thumbs down from Supreme Court which on Wednesday held that any decision on this issue will be taken by the Constitution Bench as and when it sits to decide the validity of Aadhaar scheme.
Disposing the applications filed by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), State Governments and organisations working under the Government, a three-judge Bench of Justices J Chelameswar, SA Bobde and C Nagappan said, "In view of the fact that the main matter has been referred to a larger Bench, we are of the opinion that all the applications should also go to the larger bench.” The Court even directed the matter to be placed before the Chief Justice of India although Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, earlier in the day, had moved an application before CJI for early constitution of a larger Bench.
The main issue of Aadhaar’s validity was referred to Constitution Bench on August 11 by the three-judge bench after Attorney General had argued that right to privacy is not a fundamental right. With the question of privacy, even the petitions challenging the Aadhaar scheme went to the larger bench leaving the entire scheme in jeopardy.
In the recent applications, Gujarat Government though senior advocate Harish Salve took a contrary view to Centre by claiming right to privacy was absolute and there was no denying of the fact that it is a fundamental right. Even the AG in his submissions on Tuesday admitted that perhaps he failed to fully undaerstand the issue or elain to the Court. The concern of the Centre was palpable. Till the Constitution bench would decide on the future of right to privacy, Aadhaar will go in cold storage except for the Court order allowing its use in PDS and lPG distribution schemes.
The petitioners led by a retired High Court judge had raised objection to the applications requesting the matter to be sent to the Constitution Bench. In response to the Centre's claim that 92 crore people had opted for Aadhaar cards and many had only this to show as a proof of identity, the petitioner's lawyer senior advocate Shyam Divan pointed out that Aadhaar form requires a citizen to furnish a proof of identity and residence, rendering the claim made in the application to be suspect. The Bench agreed that concerns on privacy required to be settled first as apprehensions were raised whether the information collection under Aadhaar was foolproof.