Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN | Apr 6, 2018, 01:29 IST
HIGHLIGHTS
- A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan protested Venugopal said Aadhaar could prevent bank frauds.
- The bench did, however, clarify: "Aadhaar does not become unconstitutional just because it cannot address all problems. Use of Aadhaar to uplift those at the bottom of the pyramid is welcome."
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court stopped the Centre on Thursday from projecting Aadhaar as panacea for all systemic ills, including bank frauds worth billions of rupees, and said the unique number as a tool for authentication of identity could not stop bank scams even if it might be useful in uplifting the poor.
Listing Aadhaar's utilities, attorney general K K Venugopal said it functioned as an impeccable identity authentication tool to effectively prevent use of multiple identities to siphon off financial benefits meant for people living below the poverty line, to evade tax, launder money and defraud banks of crores of rupees.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, which was patient with the AG's detailed reading of judgments and written submission, protested when the top law officer said Aadhaar could prevent bank frauds, a phenomenon much in discussion due to the cases of Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi.
Sikri said, "As far as bank frauds are concerned, it is not because fraudsters used multiple identities, which Aadhaar can prevent. The banks knew the identity of the person who repeatedly borrowed and defaulted. Aadhaar may have other utilities but will not be able to stop frauds. Fraud happens because bank officials are hand in glove with borrowers... when bank officials are mixed up with fraudsters, it has to be tackled at a different level, and not through Aadhaar."