Nobody should be at disadvantageous position for want of Aadhar: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday took note of Centre's plea that Aadhar cards be allowed to be used "voluntarily" for welfare programmes other than PDS and LPG schemes and asked whether it can assure that nobody would be at a "disadvantageous" position for want of Aadhar.

"Do you (Centre) make it a precedent for giving benefits of schemes? Do you say that a person will not be put to a disadvantageous position because of lack of Aadhar?" a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi when he pitched strongly for voluntary use of Aadhar to provide benefits of various welfare schemes to "the poorest of poor".

"The answer to the question (whether Aadhar would be voluntary) is : Yes. If the court wants, the affidavit of the highest functionary will be available by 10.30 am tomorrow," the Attorney General said and reiterated time and again during the two-hour-long hearing that nobody will be deprived of any benefits for either want of Aadhar or for not using it.

The bench, also comprising Justices M Y Eqbal, C Nagappan, Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy, may continue hearing the matter tomorrow also as the advancing of arguments on pleas of the Centre, RBI, SEBI, IRDA, TRAI, the Pension Fund Regulatory Authority and states like Gujarat and Jharkhand for modification of the August 11 order remained inconclusive.

During the hearing, the court also observed that though it is often said that Aadhar is not mandatory, but at times, some authorities do "insist" on it.

A three-judge bench had on August 11 referred a batch of petitions, challenging Aadhar cards scheme, to a larger bench for an authoritative view on the question as to whether the right to privacy is fundamental right or not and had also restricted the use of Aadhaar to PDS and LPG scheme only.

Rohatgi, initiating arguments, referred to the facts about the Aadhar, the background of the cases, their reference to the CJI for setting up of larger bench and the reasons for interim pleas of the Centre and its bodies for modification of the order for voluntary use of the Aadhaar cards in other welfare schemes like MNREGA, pension and 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana'.

At the outset, the court made it clear that it would take up the issue of modification of the order only and will not go into the merits of the questions referred for adjudication by the Constitutional bench.

"I have not made a decision as to whether it will go before a nine judge or 11 judge bench. We are concerned with the applications filed by the Central government and others," it said.

Rohatgi said over 92 crore citizens had been issued Aadhar cards by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and since the court has already stated that it will not be mandatory, there should not be any problem in allowing Aadhar to be used on voluntarily basis to establish the identity of persons and make available the benefits of other welfare schemes as well.

He submitted that crores of rupees have been spent on the UIDAI scheme to connect six lakh villages of the country with various welfare measures like MNREGA, pension schemes, Jan Dhan Yojana etc and 85,000 bank correspondents have been put on job to reach the beneficiaries at their doorsteps.

He also explained the role of bank correspondents who will help the beneficiaries to realise welfare scheme benefits and also help them in opening bank accounts at the doorsteps.

Further, the Aadhar cards would help in stopping fake withdrawal of money arising out of welfare scheme and pensioners would not have to visit the pension officer every year in November to establish they are alive, he said.

"The Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana Scheme is unique and even if a person has no money to open the account, the bank correspondent will help in opening the account with zero balance," the Attorney General said while equating the benefits of Aadhar cards with that of mobile phones.

He gave various examples including of an old infirm lady, who cannot go to bank and said that Aadhar will enable her to authenticate her identity and withdraw or deposit money to her bank.

Rohatgi said schemes under the Aadhar cards would be for financial inclusion of those left out and rubbished the objections against it, saying it was by those who are rich and effluent having million other means to realise their needs.

Rohatgi also said, "If you do not want to use it. Please do not use it. But, why to stop 92 crore persons from using it voluntarily."

He also said that it is the "most widely held ID cards" and the petitioners cannot speak on behalf of crores of Aadhar card holders.

The submissions of Rohatgi was supported by additional solicitor general P S Patwalia and Tushar Mehta and battery of senior lawyers including L Nageshwar Rao, Jayant Bhushan who appeared on behalf of various government bodies.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the petitioner, opposed any modification of the august 11 order, saying Aadhar is neither backed by any law nor by any notification and is an example of "disturbing incursions" into the life of citizens.

"This is not happening in any democracies of the world," he said and referred to the previous orders passed by the court restricting the use of Aadhar cards to only two schemes.

Later, the bench said that it would continue to hear it and explore the possibility of making available the same bench.

Earlier, the court had assured the Centre and others that it will take on their plea seeking setting up a larger bench for modifying an earlier order restricting the voluntary use of Aadhar card to PDS and LPG schemes only.

Prior to it, the court, while terming Aadhar as optional, had barred the authorities from sharing personal biometric data collected for enrollment under the scheme.

It had also passed a slew of directions for the Centre till the matter was finally decided by a larger bench.

UIDAI, established by UPA-2 in 2009, issues Aadhar cards to the citizens.

Under the programme, every citizen is to be provided with a 12-digit unique identification number for which biometric information is collected.