New Delhi: Even as the government maintained that possessing an Aadhar card was optional, the Supreme Court yesterday asked it not to issue the cards to illegal immigrants and not set them as a pre-condition for availing welfare schemes.
Alleging political gains to the ruling party in the issuance of Aadhar card, senior counsel Anil Divan told the Apex Court bench of Justice B S Chauhan and Justice S A Bobde that indiscriminate issuance of Aadhar numbers to all residents, including illegal migrants, created a serious threat to national security. Divan appeared for petitioner and former judge of Karnataka High Court K S Puttaswamy and was assisted by advocate Ankit Goel.
Taking on the government’s claim that taking Aadhar card was a voluntary choice, Divan said that linking the Aadhar number to getting benefits of social welfare schemes under the food security bill, cooking gas subsidy, Employees Provident Fund and direct benefit transfer under social welfare schemes made it mandatory in nature.
Resisting the plea for interim directions by the petitioner, Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran told the court that Aadhar card was purely voluntary and there was no need for interim directions.
Divan told the court that the individuals obtaining Aadhar number were required to give personal information that included biometrics, iris and fingerprints, which infringed the fundamental right to privacy under Article 21 of the constitution.
The senior counsel said there was no legislative backing for obtaining personal information. The court was told that there were no safeguard to protect the personal information of the citizens and there was no provision for penalties if the same comes to public domain. IANS
