The Telegraph, 07 October 2015
New Delhi, Oct. 6: The Narendra Modi government today asked the Supreme Court why it could not vacate an interim stay on linking grant of benefits to the Aadhaar card when it could sit at 2am to hear the mercy plea of Bombay blasts convict Yakub Memon.
Playing the "black money" and "terrorism" cards, the Centre pleaded before the bench of Justices J. Chelameshwar, S.A. Bobde and C. Nagappan to vacate the stay immediately instead of waiting for a constitution bench to decide on the validity of the scheme.
Attorney-general Mukul Rohatgi led the arguments for the government. The strong appeal for Aadhaar is an about-turn for Modi, who before becoming Prime Minister had described the flagship programme of UPA II as a "scam".
Additional solicitor-general Tushar Mehta, appearing for Sebi and Trai, told the court the Aadhaar card can help curb black money routed through the stock market and prevent terrorist activities.
On August 11, the bench had said a constitution bench would decide on the validity of the Aadhaar scheme, after a batch of petitioners appealed for it to be scrapped on the grounds that it impinged upon a citizen's privacy.
The court, which had earlier restrained the Centre and states from insisting on Aadhaar cards, also said until the constitution bench gave its verdict Aadhaar cards could be made mandatory for the limited purpose of extending PDS, kerosene and LPG benefits.
The petitioners have argued that since the matter has been referred to a constitution bench, it should be left to that bench to decide on vacating the stay. The constitution bench is yet to be set up.
Rohatgi said when the top court could hear an individual's case at 2am, there was no reason why it could not vacate the stay. The court said it would pass an order at 3.30pm tomorrow.
The attorney-general said so far 92 crore people have been covered under the voluntary scheme. #"No personal information is shared except the name and photographs."
Rohatgi demonstrated in court a handheld instrument being used by "Bank Correspondents" employed by banks to help people open accounts in remote rural areas. "The workers need only an Aadhaar card for linking their identity with the respective banks."
The scheme cannot be brushed away merely because some 20-odd people have expressed fears of possible misuse of the data, he argued.
Senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Centre for Civil Society, supporting the scheme, said that right of privacy includes the right to waive the privacy.
But Justice Bobde said: "Lot of illiterate people do not know that they are parting with personal information. You may do it if the consent is informed. Just because somebody is poor and starving, it does not mean he does not have right to privacy."
Senior counsel Shyam Divan, appearing for the main petitioner Justice K. Puttaswamy Gowda, said: "You are collecting fingerprints and iris scan from millions of people without your (government) representative being present at the site. The data is collected by French, US and other foreign companies, which can go for the use of the CIA and FBI...."
Another senior counsel, Meenakshi Arora, appearing for another petitioner, said: "We have demonstrated to them (Aadhaar authorities) that certain adhesive like Fevicol can be used to take the fingerprints of one individual and use it to modify the fingerprints of another. The iris scan is also not foolproof...."
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