In another setback to the Aadhaar programme, the Supreme Court has asked the government to withdraw orders making Aadhaar card mandatory. It further added that the UIDAI can't share Aadhaar details with any agency without nod from the card holder.
This issue has been going back and forth with the Supreme Court questioning the validity of the entire UIDAI programme because the UIDAI bill which was presented in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 went on to get cabinet approval but it was never passed by the Parliament and hence the Supreme Court (SC) has been questioning the legal sanctity - the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar card.
This is perhaps the reason why the government put its direct benefit transfer scheme as far as LPG cylinders were concerned on hold because the government was on a weak wicket as was very evident during the proceedings and that is why the LPG programme, the direct benefit transfer scheme was put on hold and now the SC has made it absolutely clear that the Aadhaar card cannot be made mandatory. Information received via Aadhaar card enrollment cannot be shared with any agency without the prior permission of the person who’s information is being shared.
So in that sense the SC has now shut the door as far as linking the Aadhaar card to social security schemes, etc., is concerned.
When the Aadhaar card was first envisioned, the effort was to sell this as a voluntary idea and then it became a part of the government’s efforts to try and link this to various social security schemes, to link it to bank accounts and then it became almost mandatory in a sense or at least the government was trying to pitch it as mandatory.
A PIL was filed, SC questioned the validity of the Aadhaar programme and the Aadhaar card and today the SC is abundantly clarifying that it cannot be mandatory and that if you are sharing any of the information of a person who has got his credentials enrolled with the UIDAI, you will need to seek prior permission. In that sense it is also questioning the MOUs that the UIDAI has signed with multiple agencies.
However, there are questions on if the parliament passes the Aadhaar Card Bill and it becomes constitutionally valid then will the SC reverse today’s judgement or will the momentum around this Aadhaar card just fade away going ahead.
But that is really going to be the next government’s problem. Senior BJP leaders including people like Arun Jaitley have said they do believe in the need for the Aadhaar, they have stated that they would like the Aadhaar programme to continue, that they would like to support the Aadhaar programme. But other leaders for instance Piyush Goyal have questioned giving out the Aadhaar card to non-resident Indians.
Nandan Nilekani and his government’s argument has been that the Aadhaar is merely an identity proof and that is perhaps something that the BJP has ideological issues with. This is now going to be something that the next government will have to take a call on - what they intent to do with the Aadhaar, when this bill is actually going to be taken up by the parliament, when it will go through the parliament. Post this, the question of the government approaching the SC arises, but at this point there is absolutely no clarity. More clarity on all of these issues will emerge once the BJP manifesto is out.
Source:: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/cnbc-tv18-comments/withdraw-orders-making-aadhaar-card-mandatory-sc-to-govt_1056769.html?utm_source=ref_article
This issue has been going back and forth with the Supreme Court questioning the validity of the entire UIDAI programme because the UIDAI bill which was presented in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 went on to get cabinet approval but it was never passed by the Parliament and hence the Supreme Court (SC) has been questioning the legal sanctity - the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar card.
This is perhaps the reason why the government put its direct benefit transfer scheme as far as LPG cylinders were concerned on hold because the government was on a weak wicket as was very evident during the proceedings and that is why the LPG programme, the direct benefit transfer scheme was put on hold and now the SC has made it absolutely clear that the Aadhaar card cannot be made mandatory. Information received via Aadhaar card enrollment cannot be shared with any agency without the prior permission of the person who’s information is being shared.
So in that sense the SC has now shut the door as far as linking the Aadhaar card to social security schemes, etc., is concerned.
When the Aadhaar card was first envisioned, the effort was to sell this as a voluntary idea and then it became a part of the government’s efforts to try and link this to various social security schemes, to link it to bank accounts and then it became almost mandatory in a sense or at least the government was trying to pitch it as mandatory.
A PIL was filed, SC questioned the validity of the Aadhaar programme and the Aadhaar card and today the SC is abundantly clarifying that it cannot be mandatory and that if you are sharing any of the information of a person who has got his credentials enrolled with the UIDAI, you will need to seek prior permission. In that sense it is also questioning the MOUs that the UIDAI has signed with multiple agencies.
However, there are questions on if the parliament passes the Aadhaar Card Bill and it becomes constitutionally valid then will the SC reverse today’s judgement or will the momentum around this Aadhaar card just fade away going ahead.
But that is really going to be the next government’s problem. Senior BJP leaders including people like Arun Jaitley have said they do believe in the need for the Aadhaar, they have stated that they would like the Aadhaar programme to continue, that they would like to support the Aadhaar programme. But other leaders for instance Piyush Goyal have questioned giving out the Aadhaar card to non-resident Indians.
Nandan Nilekani and his government’s argument has been that the Aadhaar is merely an identity proof and that is perhaps something that the BJP has ideological issues with. This is now going to be something that the next government will have to take a call on - what they intent to do with the Aadhaar, when this bill is actually going to be taken up by the parliament, when it will go through the parliament. Post this, the question of the government approaching the SC arises, but at this point there is absolutely no clarity. More clarity on all of these issues will emerge once the BJP manifesto is out.
Source:: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/cnbc-tv18-comments/withdraw-orders-making-aadhaar-card-mandatory-sc-to-govt_1056769.html?utm_source=ref_article
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