In a big blow to Congress game plan of winning the votes of illiterate poor people "by projecting this Aadhar card as a gift of Congress", that will give them free ration, guaranteed jobs, subsidised kerosene , banking facilities, many other free doles and most crucial an citizen identity proof to suspected immigrants (so as to include them on the loyal voters list) on the eve of the incoming election has got a big setback, when the Supreme Court questioned its declared objective as voluntary.
A bench of Justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde said, "The Centre and state governments must not insist on Aadhar cards from citizens before providing them essential services."
The apex court, trashed the Centre's claim of Rs 50,000 crore expenses on the UIDAI project, and said that Aadhar card is not necessary for important services.
The Bench accepted his arguments and agreed to hear his contentions on the interim stay as well on Sep 23 while asking the centre and state governments to file their replies.
A PIL was filed by Justice KS Puttaswamy, a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court recently, seeking an immediate stay on the implementation of the scheme.
The petitioner submitted that the scheme is complete infraction of Fundamental Rights under Articles 14 (right to equality) and 21 (right to life and liberty).
The PIL alleged that the government is bypassing Parliament by going ahead with the distribution of UID numbers and cards to all residents.
The PIL questioned the legal sanctity of the Aadhaar card.
The PIL pleaded to examine the "voluntary" nature of the Aadhaar cards.
The PIL asked why a voluntory scheme of Aadhaar cards, is being made mandatory for purposes like registration of marriages and others, as the Maharashtra government has recently said no marriage will be registered if parties don't have Aadhaar cards.
The PIL alleged that the government is bypassing Parliament by going ahead with the distribution of UID numbers and cards to all residents, without proper verification.
The PIL alleged that through the Aadhaar scheme, even non-citizens are likely to be given benefits such as cash transfer.
The PIL warned about the danger of illegal migrants residing in India are likely to be legitimised, thereby jeopardising the security of the nation.
UPA in the jist has completely lost sight to many big loopholes :
a) there is currently no legislation in place to make the Aadhaar scheme’s collection of private biometric data legal;
b) though the scheme is being promoted through administrative setup but the fact that so much personal data will be obtained by using casual private agents, thus manipulation risk is inherent.
The petitioner asserted that the issue required a meticulous judicial examination by the Bench since it raised questions not only over the government's authority to implement the scheme, but also highlighted the perils of the manner of its implementation.
Aadhaar voluntary, cannot link govt services to it: SC raps Centre While states have been linking multiple government services like admissions and gas connections to the Aadhaar number, the Supreme Court today said that the registration for the identity card was purely voluntary and government departments could not demand the card in order to provide a service.
The political advantages of giving money to voters in the name of economic efficiency is understandable, but the UPA has completely forgotten that there is currently no legislation in place to make the Aadhaar scheme’s collection of private biometric data legal.
The last moment thrust to force people to enrol people through the UID scheme is linked to the UPA's hope that widest possible implementation of the direct cash transfer scheme for subsidies before the next elections will help it in garnering maximum votes.
Conclusion : the unverified issuance of identity card to illegal residents for political benefits will jeopardise India's national security .