A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court consisting of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan upheld the Aadhaar legislation of the NDA government by a 4-1 majority. However, it ruled that its insistence on linking to bank accounts, mobile phones, mutual funds and insurance was disproportionate and every citizen could not be suspected of acquiring black money.
As the ruling stands and the scrutiny to which it was exposed, it is pertinent to note that the SC’s verdict on Aadhaar empowers you to seek removal of your personal information from the records of your telecom, banking, mutual funds and insurance firms which earlier had demanded biometrics authentication. So it is the immediate duty of the banks, telecos, mutual fund companies and insurance firms to delete the Aadhaar information at the earliest so that the SC order can be enforced. In the 4-1 split verdict it is pertinent to note that the dissenting justice D Y Chandrachud termed it as a Constitutional fraud illegally passed in Parliament as a money bill and it was a mode of empowering authorities to create a `360-degree profile’ of citizens and convert India into a surveillance state. He also stated that is was a violation of the right to privacy.
The verdict by and large vindicates the fears of most of the citizens who viewed parting of Aadhaar biometrics such as finger prints and iris scan as an unacceptable law passed by the parliament infringing on the right to privacy as a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution. As such though the split verdict with diametrically opposing opinions of the judges, the ruling is a body blow to the government which had instructed the Reserve Bank of India, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the mutual fund companies and the Insurance companies to seek Aadhaar details.
The ruling by and large is a censure that restricts use of Aadhaar information and mechanisms should be set in place for immediate withdrawal of the same as stated by the Supreme Court.
