PTI, NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court verdict striking down certain provisions of the Aadhaar scheme, terming it a “slap” on the BJP’s face, and said it will approach the apex court to reconsider the plea against passage of the legislation as a Money Bill.
The opposition party said by scrapping the “draconian” Section 57 and the national security exception in the Aadhaar Act, the Supreme Court firmly put an end to a “mass surveillance exercise” being carried out under the guise of Aadhaar by the central government and the “grotesque distortion” of an idea conceived by the previous UPA dispensation.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal also expressed satisfaction over exclusion of private companies from Aadhaar project and said the idea to involve private companies was not just “undemocratic” but was against the spirit of democracy.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra on Wednesday held that while Aadhaar scheme was constitutionally valid and would remain mandatory for filing of IT returns and allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN), it would not be mandatory to link Aadhaar to bank accounts and the telecom service providers cannot seek its linking for mobile connections.
The court upheld the passage of the Aadhaar Bill as a Money Bill by the Lok Sabha. However, Justice D Y Chandrachud, who wrote the judgement separately, said that the Aadhaar Act could not have been passed as Money Bill as it amounted to a fraud on the Constitution.
