. The Aadhaar Act 2016 passed the constitutional test in larger interest but certain provisions of the act were struck down.
The Congress Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court decision to strike down Section 57 of the Aadhaar act which allowed private parties to access Aadhaar data.
The Supreme Court has declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme constitutionally valid.
"We welcome the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act. Private entities are no longer allowed to use Aadhaar for verification purposes (sic)," the Congress said on Twitter minutes after the verdict.
On Wednesday, the SC said that mandatory linkage of Aadhaar with bank account and SIM card is not required. The Aadhaar Act 2016 passed the constitutional test in larger interest but certain provisions of the act were struck down.
The court ruled that UIDAI can’t retain data (biometrics) beyond six months. The archiving of information with UIDAI for five years was also struck down. Schools cannot insist on Aadhaar enrolment for children which was deemed unconstitutional.
The apex court's five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said Aadhaar is meant to help benefits reach marginalised sections of society and takes into account the dignity of people not only from the personal but also from the community point of view.
The top court said Aadhaar is serving a bigger public interest. Aadhaar means unique and it is better to be unique than be the best, it said.
Justice Sikri who has authored the judgement for CJI Misra and and Justice AM Khanwilkar, started his jugement stating: "It is better to be unique than the best." A unique identification empowers and gives identity to marginalised sections of society, he said.
He observed that the the petitioners contention was that Aadhaar is based on violation of rights under Part III of the Constitution, will lead us to become a surveillance state.
He said that there was no possibility of obtaining duplicate Aadhaar card and that unique identification proof also empowered and gave identity to marginalised sections of the society. Citing the 2017 Right to Privacy judgement which he said they have relied on heavily.
SC strikes down Section 33(2) of the Aadhaar Act. Section 57 which enabled corporate entities to seek authentication is ‘unconstitutional’. CBSE, NEET can't mandate Aadhaar, said the Supreme Court. Benefits under mandatory linkage should only be for 'deprived classes'.
(With PTI inputs)
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