Aadhaar deadline may be Mar 31

The Central government on Wednesday proposed extending the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts, PAN cards and mobile phones from December 31, 2017, to March 31, 2018, but only to those who are "willing to enroll for the 12-digit unique identification number. Attorney General KK Venugopal made this submission before a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, however, protested the government's move to "coerce" citizens into enrolling for Aadhaar. "The manner in which Aadhaar is spreading is unconstitutional," Divan told the bench that also comprised Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud.

Complaints have already started coming about bank accounts being wiped out, Divan said, giving an example of "the widespread misuse and fraud" involving the government's flagship project.

"Now, even people with Aadhaar do not want to get it linked to their bank accounts and their telephone numbers," Divan said.

Senior advocates Anand Grover, Arvind Datar and Meenakshi Arora also objected to the government's move. "Can we say you (government) will take no coercive action till March 31," CJI Misra asked Venugopal after taking note of the vociferous opposition. Though the top law officer gave a verbal assurance, the court asked him come back on Monday after seeking appropriate instruction.

Divan, however, persisted to seek an early hearing on this issue. "The case has been crying for a hearing in the Supreme Court since 2014," Divan said. The matter has come to such a head that nowadays even a school child cannot give his exams without getting "fingerprinted like a criminal." "This is the state of civil rights in the country," he added.

Aadhaar was started seven years ago to streamline payment of benefits and cut down on massive wastage and fraud. About 95.10 per cent of India's population has registered for it. Critics say Aadhaar links enough data to create a comprehensive profile of citizens, and the data — containing fingerprints, iris scans, and demographic information — can be misused.

Venugopal informed the bench that taking into account Justice Chandrachud's suggestion, made in his privacy judgement, a government-appointed expert committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice BN Srikrishna was already working towards a robust data protection regime.

The final law would come sometime in February 2018, and hence the centre has proposed a three-month extension in the Aadhaar linking deadline.

"Yes, it is not one of the easiest things to make a law. We want to genuinely protect the interest of the public. However, they (the committee) should be given time to frame a robust data protection law. No point rushing," Justice Chandrachud said. At this point, Datar interjected and said, "So till they make that law, let them (the government) make it categorical that nobody would be coerced to link Aadhaar."

Linking bank accounts and mobile phones with Aadhaar numbers not only violated the fundamental right to privacy, but according to the new law, it also equated citizens, including the elderly, women and students, with money launderers, Datar said.

Grover at this point suggested that apart from taking no coercive action, the government first needed to clarify that citizens who did not have Aadhaar would not be denied any facilities they are rightfully entitled to. The government could very well work on the data protection law, but in the meanwhile, it should order a freeze on the Aadhaar-linking exercise, he said.