SC's Aaadhaar Verdict

A 5-judge bench of Supreme Court  heard the Aadhaar case and 4 judges were unananimous so far as the final verdict is concerned and the 5^th judge C.K.Chandachud differed altogether in his opinion. While majority view considers  Aaadhaar  constutionally valid and validates the Money bill passed by the Central govt in Lok Sobha,Mr. Chandrachur,  treats  Aadhaar constutinally not valid and  terms Money Bill  a ‘fraud  on constitution’ as govt bypassed Rajya Sabha while passing the bill.Mr.Chandachur further adds Aadhaar is an attempt by the govt for ‘State surveillance’ on people. However, majority view is considered a balanced judgment by most of the people.          

To begin with,Aadhaar was conceptualised to allay misuse in public distribution system , govt subsidies and other benefits offered to people. Introduction of Aadhaar served these purposes to a large extent, though in some instances needy and marginalised people were denied such benefits for lack of  Aadhaar or mismatch of their biometrics, particularly finger prints with centrally based data base for no fault of their own.                                                        

However,  in course of time, Aadhaar was made mandatory in umpteen  fields including banks, telecom services, UGC fellowships,CBSE board exams and many more. At times leakage of Aadhaar data was alleged and need to protect them was urged upon.                                                                                                         

A host of public interest litigations were filed against Aadhaar challenging its constitutional validity in Supreme Court as it is supposed to infringe on right to privacy which the Apex court had already accepted as a fundamental right. As many as 38 hearings were held on Aadhaar issue  and it was perhaps the longest run litigation against a particular issue of public interest. However, verdict on Aadhaar was kept on hold for couple of months until recently it was made public.

In it’s  majority verdict  SC cut the applications of Aadhaar  to size scrapping its necessity in many a field like bank, telcom services and private sectors etc.But Aadhaar was made mandatory in public distribution systems,  issuance of  all govt  benefits , and for filing of income tax returns etc.