Government says Aadhaar mandatory, Supreme Court observes no

The Supreme Court on Monday reiterated that Aadhaar cards cannot be made mandatory by the government for extending benefits of social welfare schemes.

Despite the Supreme Court’s repeated assurances that Aadhaar is not mandatory to avail social welfare benefits, the Centre has issued at least 18 notifications making Aadhar compulsory to avail various benefits. 

“We mentioned the matter in the SC on the heels of the notifications issued by various ministries,” said Udayaditya Banerjee, the counsel representing the petitioner. Senior advocate Shyman Divan, representing Justice K S Puttaswamy (retired), another petitioner in this case, took up the issue in front of the bench headed by the Chief Justice of India JS Khehar. 

“In all more than 70 notifications under section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, making it a mandatory condition for various services have been issued by various ministries,” Banerjee said.

Despite the writing on the wall, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) JS Khehar reminded one and all that Aadhaar was not mandatory to avail of benefits, however, the government could insist on the card in “non-benefit” schemes such as Income Tax filings.

The top court also refused to expedite the constitution of a seven-judge bench that will finally dispose of the matter claiming that “right now it is not possible.”

When the matter came up in January, the apex court had said, “We are not inclined to give immediate hearing as there are limited resources but biometric data collection by private agencies is not a great idea.”

Ministries are systematically making the Aadhaar card , a mandatory condition for social welfare benefits, which the opposite of the observation made by the Chief Justice of India on Monday.  

“There is already adequate protection,” the CJI said while refusing to intervene in the matter when Divan submitted that making Aadhaar mandatory was an infringement of one’s civil liberties. 

According to notifications from various ministries, if one does not get their Aadhaar card till as early as June 30, 2017, retired defence personnel will not be able to get their pension, compensation will not be dispensed to victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy, students will not be able to avail of the mid-day meal scheme - for some, this meal is often their first meal of the day, nor will they get scholarship. These are but a few of the benefits listed. 

In an earlier hearing, the top court had indicated that issues pertaining to Aadhaar would be heard by a seven-judge constitution bench. However, the CJI refused to comment on this and the matter remained unlisted. 

In an August 2015, a three-judge bench made four important observations in their order. According to the order passed by Justices J Chelameshwar, S A Bobde and C Nagappan, the government would use all media outlets to state that it was “not mandatory for a citizen to obtain an Aadhaar card.” The order further read that, “the production of an Aadhaar card will not be condition for obtaining any benefits otherwise due to a citizen.” Aadhar was mandatory only for “PDS Scheme and in particular for the purpose of distribution of foodgrains, etc. and cooking fuel, such as kerosene. The Aadhaar card may also be used for the purpose of the LPG Distribution Scheme.” 

Lastly the order said, “the information about an individual obtained by the Unique Identification Authority of India while issuing an Aadhaar card shall not be used for any other purpose, save as above, except as may be directed by a Court for the purpose of criminal investigation.”    

In October 2015, a five-judge bench headed by then CJI HL Dattu, upheld the order and made “it clear that the Aadhaar card Scheme is purely voluntary and it cannot be made mandatory till the matter is finally decided by this Court one way or the other.” The matter was also referred to a seven-judge constitution bench for final disposal. However, the SC had then allowed the Union to add a few more schemes where Aadhaar was mandatory. 

Hours after the SC’s observation, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar announced that Aadhaar would not be made mandatory for mid-day meals, though they would be issued with an unique identity to prevent the siphoning of funds earmarked for food served at schools. However, if one has to analyze this move, the unique identity is but a first step towards the enrollment for an Aadhaar Card. 

Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien further announced that the Rajya Sabha would discuss Aadhaar on Wednesday.