New Delhi: The Supreme Court declared Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid, on Wednesday saying “it is better to be unique than being best; Aadhaar means Unique.”.
The apex court made the judgement along with certain conditions. Judges said one cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater, upholding the scheme which collects biometric data from every citizen.
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“Minimal demographic and biometric data of citizens are collected by UIDAI for Aadhaar enrolment,” said the court. Here’s what you need to know:
- Justice AK Sikri said, there is a fundamental difference between Aadhaar card and identity. “Once the bio-metric information is stored, it remains in the system,” he said.
- Unique identification proof gives identity to marginalised sections, empowering them, the court added.
- Justice Sikhri said there is no possibility of obtaining a duplicate Aadhaar card. “There is sufficient defence mechanism for authentication in the Aadhaar scheme,” he said.
- Three sets of judgments were pronounced on the issue.
- On May 10, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra reserved the verdict on the matter after a marathon hearing which went on for 38 days, spanning four-and-half months making it the second longest hearing in the history of Supreme Court.
- Private companies cannot insist on Aadhaar data and banks, judges said. Likewise, phone companies cannot insist on Aadhaar-linking.
- However, Aadhaar has to be linked to citizens’ PAN (Permanent Account Number) information for filing the tax returns.
- Aadhar is not compulsory for school admissions either.
