A review petition was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday against its verdict in September upholding the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme, PTI reported quoting senior lawyer Indira Jaising. The petition was filed by one Imtiyaz Ali Palsaniya, who had also filed interim pleas while the Supreme Court was hearing the Aadhaar case.
A five-judge Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had in a 4-1 judgement on September 26 said that the Aadhaar Act did not violate the right to privacy. It also upheld the passage of the Aadhaar Bill as a money bill in the Lok Sabha. However, the court struck down Section 57 of the Act, which allowed private entities to use Aadhaar for verification purposes. The court also said mobile phones and bank accounts do no need to be linked with Aadhaar though it has to be linked with PAN cards for filing Income Tax Returns.
In his petition, Palsaniya said the petition challenged only those parts of the Aadhaar Act and programme which the court had held as constitutionally valid in its September judgement. “The judgement sought to be reviewed has also not considered a crucial aspect of PAN-Aadhaar linkage, since it fails to satisfy the test laid down by the same court in the very same judgement,” the petition said. The plea claimed that the Aadhaar programme, which was in existence before the Aadhaar Act was passed in 2016, has become an “instrument of transfer of sensitive personal data” of citizens to foreign entities which work as biometric service providers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has backed the Aadhaar initiative, and extended it to cover several social security schemes. It had called the Supreme Court verdict historic.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!