Senior lawyer Vipin Nair, whose petition was among the 28 writs that were considered by the Supreme Court, feels the Aadhaar judgment has left a visible impact for the common man
"Overall the Supreme Court's Constitution Bench judgment in Aadhaar is a mixed bag, largely skewed in favour of the anti-Aadhaar camp. The Act has been considerably watered down, objectionable sections have been defanged; and it remains a pale shadow of its former overpowering self," said senior Supreme Court lawyer Vipin Nair, whose writ petition was among the 28 writs that were considered by the Supreme Court, while passing the 1,448-page order.
Speaking to mid-day, Nair said, "Though the Constitution Bench has upheld the validity of the Aadhaar Act, the Act in itself has been left badly mauled forensically speaking, at the end of the day. Aadhaar's shine has come off and grave doubts have emerged of it being a unique and largest biometric mapping exercise."
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Nair further added, "Several sections of the Act, viz. Sections 57, 33[2], which was touted as a phenomenal democratic identification tool, were struck down by the majority itself. For the common man, the judgment has left some visible impact."
Cherry on the cake
"The linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts, mobiles etc. has been declared illegal. But the cherry on the cake is the emphasis that the Court by majority has laid on the impact of Aadhaar on the future citizens' viz. children.
The majority has held that not only is Aadhaar not mandatory for school admission, entrance examinations etc, but that a child, on attaining majority, has an option of revoking his Aadhaar. This option offered to the unsuspecting and vulnerable sections of the society viz. our children is extremely gratifying." "The upholding of linking Aadhaar to PAN card by the majority is based on an erroneous premise since there is no service being provided by the government when one pays taxes to it," Nair asserted.
Sources revealed that it will be interesting to see how the matter unfolds, once CJI Dipak Mishra retires and Ranjan Gogoi takes over as the new CJI, and a review plea comes up to seek clarity on linking Aadhaar with PAN.
Contradiction
"We must understand that PAN is mandatory for filing Income Tax returns as per the I-T Act, but by linking PAN with Aadhaar, once again while opening a bank account, we still link Aadhaar with bank accounts, which is in contradiction to the SC order, and this needs clarity," said a lawyer.
Biometric data
The other point that needs to have clarity, is about the biometric data of people that has been collected between 2009-2016, when there was no statutory enactment or Act in place, empowering the government to collect and store any sort of biometric data. Interestingly, the initial 2009-2014 practice was run by the UPA government, and post 2014 it was NDA government which continued the same practice.
Senior lawyer Vipin Nair
'Toxic idea'
Among the 28 petitions that were considered by the Supreme Court was one filed by Dr Kalyani Menon Sen, a feminist researcher and Shanta Sinha challenging the constitutional validity of the decision of RBI to link bank accounts with Aadhaar mandatory on the grounds of violation of right to privacy. Sen was upset that her bank was insisting upon getting her Aadhaar linked to her bank account before the deadline, failing which she would not be allowed to operate her account. Sen is presently out of India and attempts to reach her did not yield any result. However in an earlier response to mid-day Sen had said, "I have been part of the campaign against Aadhar since the very beginning. For the last several years, we have been raising the alarm about the risks and dangers of Aadhaar and are now seeing our worst fears confirmed. It's a toxic idea. I don't have an Aadhaar and I'm not going to be bulldozed or panicked into getting one before the SC gives its ruling."
Key takeaways from verdict
- No need to link your bank account with your Aaadhar number.
- Private companies can no longer ask for your Aadhaar details.
- No need to produce Aadhaar for SIM cards.
- No need to produce card at time of school admissions or enrollment in exams of NEET, CBSE and UGC.
- Mandatory to link Aadhaar, PAN.
- Aadhaar card will not be provided to illegal migrants.
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