Upholding the constitutional validity of the controversial Aadhaar identity project, Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling on Wednesday, has asked the government to “introduce strong data protection law as soon as possible.”
The bench struck down several provisions of the project and focussed on the use of Aadhar for welfare-centric schemes, the five-judge Constitution Bench of the apex court held that the unique ID also empowers the marginalised sections of the society. The bench upheld the constitutional validity of Aadhaar by a 4:1 majority.
So, how does it affect you:
- The court struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act of 2016, thereby making it illegal for private companies to seek Aadhaar numbers from citizens for services.
- Although the court upheld the linking of PAN card with Aadhaar for filing of Income Tax returns, it said that Aadhaar is not mandatory for opening a bank account. T
- No network service provider, like Airtel or Vodafone, can demand your Aadhaar number for its services.
- Schools and colleges cannot demand Aadhaar for admissions for students.
- Aadhaar is not compulsory for UGC, NEET & CBSE exams.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had on May 10 reserved the verdict on the matter after a marathon hearing that went on for 38 days, spanning four-and-half months.
As many as 31 petitions, including one by former High Court judge K S Puttaswamy, were filed in the matter.
A key argument against the Aadhaar scheme was that it was violative of the nine-judge bench verdict that had held that Right to Privacy is a fundamental right under the Constitution.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
