Observes that giving Aadhaar to non-citizens shouldn't be a problem
Surabhi Agarwal | New Delhi February 4, 2014 Last Updated at 20:05 IST
Read more on: Aadhaar | Uidai | Uid | Supreme Court | Ks Puttaswamy | Nandan Nilekani | Direct Benefits Transfer
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government to clarify the structure of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in order to ascertain the legal validity of the agreements that the agency has entered with the states. The court, which was hearing a joint review petition by government agencies for its past order on linking the UID number or Aadhaar with government services, also made an observation that there was nothing wrong with giving legal migrants an UID number as it may help keep a better check on them.
During the second hearing of the review petition, which has been joined by over ten state governments, ministry of oil and petroleum, oil marketing companies along with UIDAI, senior advocate Shyam Divan (who was representing one of the petitioners) presented before the three-judge bench that UIDAI is collecting biometric - a sensitive personal information – and demographic data without any statutory backing. He argued that while biometrics of an individual were still being encrypted by the authority, there is no protection of the “demographic” data that is being collected by “private” operators – which can be misused for commercial gains.
While Divan reiterated that UIDAI has no statutory backing, he said that UID has entered into memorandum of understanding with state governments which have no legal binding and therefore in case of any misuse or foul play, the enrolling agencies can’t be legally held liable. To this, Justice J Chelameswar asked Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran whether UIDAI is a government agency or a “body corporate.” When Parasaran replied that UIDAI is an attached office of the Planning Commission, Chelameswar said that if that was the case then why were the contracts not in the name of President. Parasaran sought time to respond on the issue.
The bench is headed by Justice B S Chauhan and also comprises Justice M Y Eqbal. The court, which also asked for the distinction between UID and the home ministry’s National Population Register project said that if, “Aadhaar is permissible for citizens, it should also be for non-citizens” as it maybe helpful to keep a check on them. This comment came after Divan pointed out that UIDAI can be given to non-citizens as well.
The next hearing is slated for February 11 and the matter is expected to continue for sometime as five more petitioners have to present their case, before the government lawyers can respond.
During Tuesday’s proceedings, Divan also elaborated on how Aadhaar’s use for authenticating an individual at various points – such as ATMs, toll plaza, offices means that “central government has a method of tagging an individual,” through the electronic trail possible through the linkage. He called the authority unconstitutional and evoked the privacy concerns involved with the project.
The SC had passed an interim order on September 23 on the petition filed by retired judge of the Karnataka High Court K S Puttaswamy stating that no one should suffer due to unavailability of Aadhaar. Later, some central ministries, three public sector undertakings requested a modification of the order, along with UID Authority of India (UIDAI). Several activists like Aruna Roy joined the petition against the Aadhaar over issues such as privacy.
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