New Delhi: The Supreme Court, announced the important verdict on Aadhaar on Wednesday and strucks down Section 57 of the Act that allowed any “body corporate or person” or private entity to demand Aadhaar. On the petitions challenging the Center’s important Aadhaar program and the constitutional validity of the 2016 law, the Supreme Court, while deciding the majority decision, believes that the Aadhaar is the identity of the common man. Judge of five judges under the leadership of CJI Deepak Mishra had reserved his decision on the matter on May 10 after a long trial lasting 38 days. In the case, a total of 31 petitions were filed with the petition of former High Court judge KS Puttaswamy.
Top 10 Important Things related to this verdict:
1. Private companies no longer permitted to demand Aadhaar data
2. National Security exception struck down
3. Bring in robust Data Protection Law
4. 33(1) read down
5. Aadhaar constitutionally valid. Purpose of the Act legitimate
6. NO Indian can be denied his or her right for lack of Aadhaar
7. Aadhaar NOT mandatory for school admissions, exams
8. NO child can be denied access to a govt scheme for lack of Aadhaar
9. Aadhaar MANDATORY for PAN card/IT return filing.
10. Section 57 Struck Down.
Balanced Judgement
Speaking on the Aadhaar Verdict, Cyber Law Expert, Advocate Prashant Mali said,
“It is unclear at this point how the Modi government will deal with Aadhaar linkages that have been carried out already and the data that had already been captured by the Telcos and private players.”
