The Government’s attempt to link Aadhaar with all social benefit schemes got partial approval from Supreme Court. On Thursday, the court altered its earlier order and allowed Aadhaar numbers to be linked with four other schemes namely pension, provident fund, Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana, and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Presently, only PDS and lPG could be distributed using the Unique Identification number.
Claiming that 92 crore citizens in the country who had an Aadhaar card wanted to voluntarily use it for availing benefits under Government’s social schemes, the Centre through the Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi sought modification of an August 11, 2015 order passed by apex court restricting Aadhaar to be limited to PDS and lPG only.
Though the Centre proposed six other schemes to be covered by Aadhaar, a five-judge Constitution Bench ruled that till the validity of Aadhaar was finally decided by a larger Bench, it was willing to grant extension to only such schemes which are urgently required to be covered by Aadhaar though on a voluntary basis.
Disposing the Centre’s interim application, the bench comprising Chief Justice Hl Dattu, Justices MY Eqbal, C Nagappan, Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy said, “We are of the view that in para 3 of the August 11, 2015 order, apart from PDS and lPG distribution scheme, schemes like MGNREGA, National Social Assistance Programme (Old Age Pension, Widow Pension, Disability Pension), PM Jan Dhan Yojana and Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).”
Although Attorney General insisted on inclusion of bank account opening and updating through KYC (Know Your Customer), the Bench remarked, “All that can wait.” The court reiterated that use of Aadhaar will be purely voluntary and it won’t be insisted upon for either of the six schemes permitted by it or any other scheme or service provided by Centre and State Governments.
Though the petitioners, who had challenged Aadhaar as being an invasion of person’s privacy were opposed to any alteration, the Bench said, “When the three-judge Bench passed the August 11 order you conceded to extend Aadhaar to PDS and lPG. Neither have you filed a review petition against it. If the order is good for PDS and lPG, why should a person who wants to voluntarily use his Aadhaar number be restrained from using it for other schemes.”
The interim relief obtained by Centre will hold good till the court is to decide one way or other whether Aadhaar violates fundamental right of privacy of a citizen.