Supreme Court verdict on Aadhaar

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that Aadhaar is secured and unique during the judgement in the case pertaining to making the unique ID mandatory for services like banking, telephone and various government schemes.

Reading out the judgment, Justice AK Sikri, said, “It is better to be unique than the best. Aadhaar has become the most talked about expression in the recent years.”

He further pointed that the “attack on Aadhaar by petitioners is based on violation of rights under Part III of the Constitution”, adding that according to petitioners, making Aadhaar mandatory would “lead us to become a surveillance State”.

Centre has so far issued 139 notifications, practically touching every aspect of a citizen`s day-to-day life, making Aadhaar linking mandatory.

Here are the key highlights of the judgement:

SC declares Aadhaar scheme as Constitutionally valid.

SC says Aadhaar does not need to be linked to banks, mobile numbers. But it is still a must for PAN, I-T returns.

Aadhaar cannot be mandated for opening of bank accounts.

The apex court points out that Aadhaar can't be insisted upon in schools and private companies cannot insist on Aadhaar.

Aadhaar serving much larger public interest. CBSE, UGC, NEET making Aadhaar mandatory is not acceptable.

Aadhaar authentication data cannot be stored for more than six months.

SC strikes down Section 57 of Aadhaar Act permitting private entities to avail Aadhaar data. 

There is a fundamental difference between Aadhaar card and identity. Once the bio-metric information is stored, it remains in the system, said Justice Sikri. Aadhaar empowers the marginalised section of the society and gives them an identity, Aadhaar is also different from other ID proofs as it can't be duplicated, he added.

SC says minimal demographic and biometric data of citizens are collected by the UIDAI for Aadhaar enrolment. Aadhaar number given to a person is unique and can't go to any other person