The Supreme Court yesterday indefinitely extended the deadline for linking various services with Aadhaar until it delivers its judgment on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the biometric identification scheme.
A five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, however said the extension will not affect the linking of Aadhaar with the disbursal of benefits under social welfare schemes.
“We direct that the interim order passed on December 15, 2017 shall stand extended till the matter is finally heard and the judgment is pronounced,” the court said in its order.
The court also said its interim order “shall also control and govern the Passports (1st Amendment) Rules, 2018” which insisted on Aadhaar identification for getting passports under the ‘Tatkal’ scheme.
The order came as senior lawyer Arvind Datar, appearing for one of the petitioners, told the court that passport issuing authorities have made Aadhaar mandatory.
At this point, Attorney General K K Venugopal sought to clarify that this requirement of Aadhaar was only for issuing ‘Tatkal’ passports.
The current deadline for linking of bank accounts, mobile phone connections, and other services with Aadhaar was March 31. The earlier deadline was December 15 last year.
As Chief Justice Misra said that the interim order stands extended, the attorney general told the court that the government was prepared to extend the deadline in the last week of March as arguments in the matter would have concluded by then.
“We were prepared for extension in the last week of March,” he told the court in a bid to stall the extension.
The constitution bench, which also includes Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, had on March 7 ruled that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) should not insist on Aadhaar-only identification for NEET and other entrance examinations.
Earlier in the course of the arguments, senior lawyer P Chidambaram told the bench that the court could look into the decision of the Lok Sabha speaker in allowing Aadhaar Bill to be tabled as a Money Bill.
Under the Constitution’s Article 122, the decision of the speaker on the Money Bill was “final” and mere procedural irregularities would not stand in the way, Chidambaram said. But he said it does not prevent the court from deciding it the decision was unconstitutional.
Appearing for Congress’s Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh who has challenged the introduction of Aadhaar Bill as a Money Bill, Chidambaram, said declaring a bill as a Money Bill strikes at the root of federalism as it eclipses the powers of the Rajya Sabha which represents the collective wisdom of the states.
Earlier, senior advocate Shyam Divan, who led the arguments challenging Aadhaar and its enabling Act, had asked that the deadline of March 31 be extended as it was highly unlikely that the hearing in the case would conclude. Justice Chandrachud, too, had pointed out that even if the court reserved its verdict on March 20, banks and other institutions would have only 10 days left, which might be difficult. The bench then called the attorney general for assistance.
Recently, industry body Assocham had also urged the government to relax the deadline for linking bank accounts. “Notwithstanding judicial scrutiny and government’s well-intentioned moves, the banks may find it hard to complete the task of linking Aadhaar with the accounts of all the customers by March 31,” Assocham had said.
India’s biometric identification programme, which is the largest of its kind in the world, has faced hurdles ranging from privacy concerns with strong opposition from different factions on making it a compulsion. Concerns have been raised about the security of the Unique Identification Authority of India’s database and the potential damage that may follow if it is breached.