Legal Confusion Over Aadhaar Continues– Supreme Court Reiterates That Aadhaar Card Is Not Mandatory
Government’s has received another setback in its attempts to make Aadhaar Card as mandatory requirement for availing various public welfare schemes and accessing services such as rail tickets and registration of businesses.
In a recent ruling, Supreme Court has restated that Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory for any accessing public scheme or Govt. services. As per the verdict, Supreme Court has reinforced the previous judgement of October, 2015, wherein the apex court had stopped Govt. from universalizing Aadhaar Card for every public welfare scheme and accessing Govt. services.
This means that the judiciary and the Govt. of India are at clash here on the validity of Aadhaar Card, and such legal uncertainty can confuse citizens.
Supreme Court Stops Aadhaar Expansion
The recent case was pertaining to the Govt’s decision to make Aadhaar Card as a mandatory requirement for receiving students’ scholarship. This decision was challenged in the Supreme Court.
While giving their verdict, the bench decided to uphold the October, 2015 and stopped Govt. from making Aadhaar Card as a necessary requirement for availing the scholarship.
As per the 2-member bench, until and unless all previous litigations pertaining to Aadhaar Card usage has been cleared, Govt. cannot overrule Supreme Court’s decision and impose Aadhaar Card on citizens.
But Govt. Already Has A Legal Backing Via Aadhaar Bill
Now, the confusion lies here. In the month of March, Govt. used smart political tactics, and passed the Aadhaar Act, 2016 (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services); which was notified by UIDAI and implemented effective September 12, 2016.
Under this legal backing, Govt. passed all resolutions which made Aadhaar card as a mandatory requirement for accessing various public welfare schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Jan Dhan Yojana, different types of pension schemes, transfer of cooking gas subsidy, the employees provident fund, public distribution and more.
Under the same arrangement, we had reported that Aadhaar Card would be now made compulsory for booking railway tickets, registering new businesses and even enforce Aadhaar linked bank accounts.
Recently, Hyderabad Police made Aadhaar Card mandatory while vehicle checks.
Govt. has also asked all smartphone makers to mandatorily enable Aadhaar based encryption of data, which has caused some unrest among hardware makers and software platform owners.
A senior official has tried to explain that Aadhaar Card would be like the ration card: if anyone wants to have subsidized ration, then he or she must have ration card. Although the Govt. is not officially using the word ‘mandatory’, but without it, things won’t happen.
He said, “Under the new law and the regulations, we do not use the word ‘mandatory’. The regulations require authorities to ask for Aadhaar against the schemes and if someone does not have it, the agency or authority is required to ensure the person gets enrolled. Till the time he or she enrolls, the person will not be denied the benefits,”
As of now, there exists 9 pending cases in the Supreme Court, which deals with the ‘compulsory’ usage of Aadhaar Card for accessing Govt. services and schemes, and unless these cases are cleared, the legality of Aadhaar Card is still stuck in a logjam.
We will keep you updated as more details come in.
It is unfortunate that SC is saying Aadhar cannot be mandatory in the name of right to privacy. If that is the case, then:
why Passport is mandatory for travel outside country ?
why is PAN mandatory for so many financial matters ?
why is Voter ID mandatory for voting ?
why is ID proof mandatory at so many places in Govt / Non-Govt places ?
why is Photo ID proof mandatory at various Govt / Non-Govt places ?
why is Ration Card mandatory for some Govt benefits ?
why is Driving License mandatory for driving ?
why is mobile number mandatory at various places ?
Is there not enough sanity or our constitution is too old/outdated/vague/non relevant & cannot be updated or want to keep non-honest (fraudulent) system in place ?
Such SC orders make mockery of honest people & the people lose faith in system.
If SC has to keep their sanity/intelligence/loyalty alive, it has to make Aadhar mandatory asap.
Anybody who does not want Aadhar mandatory, there is a strong case of suspicion against the person for honesty & patriotism.
Aadhar is simply a tool for transferring the right to dishonesty to computer/ internet savvy people and put the reigns of atleast fifty crore Indians in the hands of those who who are better than average in Absorbing technical knowledge. Government will not formulate rules to prevent cyber frauds but it will not fight court cases for every Ram , Dam ,Shyam who may lose their life’s savings to an e-thug sitting cosy in a hotel in Kolkata or Mumbai. You forget that despite voter Id there are election frauds, perhaps that is what got BJP to Power??? Despite driving licences there are fatal rash- driving ,drunk- driving accidents. Despite licenses for keeping weapons people are killed by crude illegal guns .More license means more fraud in this country ,where half the people still depend on the younger generation to help them with computer related work , half the people hardly has understanding of the law , financial and otherwise and half the people will always be less brainy than the other half getting ever more exploited and too helpless to fight for their rights. It is the beginning of Anarchy in disguise of democracy in India .India was never America or Europe and should never be. Worse if it becomes a Pseudo -China in its bad imitation of the West. When the people exploited do not get a clue as to how they got cheated , they will have intelligence and resource left to do only one thing –kill others or commit suicide . Do you or Jaitley, or any one else in the government even realise how common the common people are????
How many suicides will open your eyes to how this whole license and e-card Raj is taking away the liberty and joy out of these hapless people’s lives?? Adhaar card promise free rations, subsidised gas e.t.c. But why have they been moved to the situation to seek free rations and subsidy in the first place? You are turning simple folks living dignified lives out of their own hard work to government sponsored beggars. Perhaps that is what the whole scheme is about .For little benefits and to avoid little hassles these folks are giving in to the Adhaar – Raj . In a decade they will all realise how their lives can be messed up by a wrong click on a computer or a hacker-bandit or perhaps the sovereign Goonda the government is turning out to be.
Even hundred percent computer literacy will not restore democratic equilibrium once the Adhaar enters the financial field. just as literacy itself has not been able to wipe out inequality in seven decades of independence. Who gavee the government the right to hand over the control of the lives of crores of people to computer savvy government clerks who will be new Mai-Baaps in local corruption-Raj once Adhaar gets its full and pucca setting.
aadhar make compulsory ask to student in class room by teacher and teacher forced by the authority this way make the aadhar forcible by tactics in school.
SC is right here. Government keeps making a fool of itself. Aadhar cannot be made mandatory when 100% Aadhar coverage has not been achieved.