PTI | Apr 25, 2018, 22:28 IST
NEW DELHI: The Aadhaar scheme has the support of two successive governments and senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who had opposed it for a party in the Supreme Court, was part of the empowered Group of Ministers which had dealt with the 12-digit unique national identifier issue, the UIDAI counsel said on Wednesday.
In a veiled attack on Sibal who was at the forefront of the move by opposition MPs to impeach the Chief Justice of India, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), said the Congress leader was part of the Empowered Group of Minister (EGoM) that had dealt with the Aadhaar scheme.
He said now the same person, who was once advocating the Aadhaar scheme, was making a submission that data would be compromised with private players.
"Mr Sibal argued that the government is collecting data and would give them to private players," Dwivedi took a dig at Sibal while making his submission before a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
"The (Aadhaar) policy had the support of two successive governments," he told the bench which also comprised Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan.
"I will not say much," Dwivedi said and indicated about the recent developments involving the top judiciary.
Sibal, who had appeared for some petitioners opposed to the Aadhaar scheme, was not present in the courtroom. He recently said he would not be appearing before the CJI as he was a signatory to the impeachment notice.
TOP COMMENT
But UPA did not ask anyone to link all the personal to one number. It was for security and welfare scheme distribution purposes only. But NDA is trying to put the life of people at risk. Many students and people are still suffering only because of vague implementation of aadhaar by NDA. Gov trying to surveil each and every move of all the citizens which is always a very bad idea.
Bharath Kumar
Earlier, Sibal had opposed the Aadhaar scheme and said "our identity cannot be confined to mere Aadhaar numbers, we are all much more ... I am against the this one-nation-one-identity move."
The apex court is hearing a clutch of petitions challenging Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law.