BS Post : 80, Date : 23.09.2013, Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.
The Supreme Court today ruled that the Aadhaar is not mandatory to get government benefits and services such as gas connections, vehicle registration, scholarships, marriage registration, salaries, provident fund, etc.
The interim order was passed in a public interest petition moved by a retired judge of the Karnataka high court who alleged that the Unique Identity (UID) or Aadhaar scheme does not have parliamentary sanction and it was rolled out only by the executive without discussion in Parliament.
This could deal a blow to the ambitious direct benefits transfer (DBT) scheme, under which the government is building a system of transferring welfare payments directly into the Aadhaar linked bank accounts of beneficiaries.
It also comes just days after news reports that UID authority Chairman Nandan Nilekani is likely to contest elections from South Karnataka on a Congress ticket. Neither Nilekani nor UIDAI director general Vijay S. Madan were available for a comment immediately.
A bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan, in today’s order in the petition moved last year by retired Justice K S Puttaswamy, stated that the scheme has several shortcomings and should be discontinued. The scheme should not be made compulsory to avail of essential services. Moreover, the number should not be issued to illegal immigrants like those from Bangladesh.
Nikhil Dey, social activist and co-convener of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information said that the order was "much needed." Dey said that the scheme is completely voluntary but there is nothing voluntary about it government is forcing people to enroll for it if they want to avail various services such as cooking gas subsidy etc.
"DBT project should have only been rolled out after the UID legislation was passed in the Parliament." Dey added that Aadhaar was only good as it gave an identity to people who had no way to prove their citizenship, but the Supreme Court has also said that Aadhaar can't be given to illegal migrants putting a question mark on what will happen to all the people who have already got the number without any identity or address proof.
UIDAI has issued numbers to 429.6 million residents so far. The Prime Minister had introduced the National Identity Authority of India Bill in 2010 but it was rejected by the Parliamentary Standing Committee in 2011. Since then, the government was pushing the scheme through executive action.
A government official, however, said in support of UID said that the whole purpose of Aadhaar is to eliminate duplicates and fakes and it is the only way to check them. "If this country wants leakages, then let there be leakages.
The official who didn't wish to be identified added that it is for the police and not for Aadhaar to check illegal migrants
"Aadhaar is at least trying to put them on the radar, thereafter you can throw them out as Aadhaar doesn't give them identity or legitimacy." The root of the problem is not being addressed, which is how to check illegal migrants, the official added.
The petitioner, on the other hand, argued that apart from the unconstitutionality of the executive acting on its own without legislative sanction, the scheme also impinged on the right to privacy of individuals, as the confidentiality and security of biometric information collected by private agencies were not ensured.
Even non citizens were likely to get benefits like cash transfers and illegal migrants were likely to get legitimised. This would jeopardise national security, it was argued.
The fact whether Aadhaar is mandatory or voluntary has been a point of debate for sometime. While the scheme in itself is voluntary in nature, the linkages with user agencies is making it mandatory in other ways.
The Maharashtra government had insisted recently that marriages could not be registered without the number. The registrar of the Bombay high court is also reported to have insisted for the number for disbursement of salary to the staff.
Similarly, under the DBT scheme, various pensions and scholarship payments are linked to the Aadhaar number. The government has also extended cooking gas subsidy under the scheme to 235 more districts from January 2014 from 20 districts earlier.
According to a statement by DBT Mission Director S Sundareshan earlier this month, the government has credited Rs 480 crore in about nine million transactions so far since the roll-out of the project in January 2013.
New Delhi September 23, 2013
The Supreme Court today ruled that the Aadhaar is not mandatory to get government benefits and services such as gas connections, vehicle registration, scholarships, marriage registration, salaries, provident fund, etc.
The interim order was passed in a public interest petition moved by a retired judge of the Karnataka high court who alleged that the Unique Identity (UID) or Aadhaar scheme does not have parliamentary sanction and it was rolled out only by the executive without discussion in Parliament.
This could deal a blow to the ambitious direct benefits transfer (DBT) scheme, under which the government is building a system of transferring welfare payments directly into the Aadhaar linked bank accounts of beneficiaries.
It also comes just days after news reports that UID authority Chairman Nandan Nilekani is likely to contest elections from South Karnataka on a Congress ticket. Neither Nilekani nor UIDAI director general Vijay S. Madan were available for a comment immediately.
A bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan, in today’s order in the petition moved last year by retired Justice K S Puttaswamy, stated that the scheme has several shortcomings and should be discontinued. The scheme should not be made compulsory to avail of essential services. Moreover, the number should not be issued to illegal immigrants like those from Bangladesh.
Nikhil Dey, social activist and co-convener of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information said that the order was "much needed." Dey said that the scheme is completely voluntary but there is nothing voluntary about it government is forcing people to enroll for it if they want to avail various services such as cooking gas subsidy etc.
"DBT project should have only been rolled out after the UID legislation was passed in the Parliament." Dey added that Aadhaar was only good as it gave an identity to people who had no way to prove their citizenship, but the Supreme Court has also said that Aadhaar can't be given to illegal migrants putting a question mark on what will happen to all the people who have already got the number without any identity or address proof.
UIDAI has issued numbers to 429.6 million residents so far. The Prime Minister had introduced the National Identity Authority of India Bill in 2010 but it was rejected by the Parliamentary Standing Committee in 2011. Since then, the government was pushing the scheme through executive action.
A government official, however, said in support of UID said that the whole purpose of Aadhaar is to eliminate duplicates and fakes and it is the only way to check them. "If this country wants leakages, then let there be leakages.
The official who didn't wish to be identified added that it is for the police and not for Aadhaar to check illegal migrants
"Aadhaar is at least trying to put them on the radar, thereafter you can throw them out as Aadhaar doesn't give them identity or legitimacy." The root of the problem is not being addressed, which is how to check illegal migrants, the official added.
The petitioner, on the other hand, argued that apart from the unconstitutionality of the executive acting on its own without legislative sanction, the scheme also impinged on the right to privacy of individuals, as the confidentiality and security of biometric information collected by private agencies were not ensured.
Even non citizens were likely to get benefits like cash transfers and illegal migrants were likely to get legitimised. This would jeopardise national security, it was argued.
The fact whether Aadhaar is mandatory or voluntary has been a point of debate for sometime. While the scheme in itself is voluntary in nature, the linkages with user agencies is making it mandatory in other ways.
The Maharashtra government had insisted recently that marriages could not be registered without the number. The registrar of the Bombay high court is also reported to have insisted for the number for disbursement of salary to the staff.
Similarly, under the DBT scheme, various pensions and scholarship payments are linked to the Aadhaar number. The government has also extended cooking gas subsidy under the scheme to 235 more districts from January 2014 from 20 districts earlier.
According to a statement by DBT Mission Director S Sundareshan earlier this month, the government has credited Rs 480 crore in about nine million transactions so far since the roll-out of the project in January 2013.
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