SC refuses to expand uses of Aadhaar card

Constitution Bench to hear pleas by govt agencies

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to oblige multifarious government agencies and regulatory authorities by passing any order to expand the use of Aadhaar card for other than LPG and PDS schemes.

Their requests would be decided by a Constitution Bench, it said. A three-judge bench presided over by Justice J Chelameswar said a batch of PILs challenging the validity of the Aadhaar card for being repugnant with right to privacy has already been referred to the Constitution Bench for adjudication.

The applications filed by the UIDAI, Trai, IRDA, Sebi, RBI, Pension Fund Regulatory Authority and different state governments would also be considered by the Constitution Bench, the court said.

The government is likely to urge the Chief Justice of India (CJI) to set up a Constitution Bench in view of the order which came as a setback to it. On Tuesday, the matter was  mentioned before the bench presided over by CJI H L Dattu, who said it was difficult to spare seven judges at the moment for the Constitution Bench.

After hearing arguments a day before, the bench, also comprising Justice S A Bobde and Justice C Nagappan, had put the matter for passing order on Wednesday, also on the issue of maintainability of those modification pleas. The same bench had on August 11 referred the PILs, including one filed by former Karnataka HC judge Justice K S Puttaswamy, to a Constitution Bench of appropriate strength to determine the legal issue if the right to privacy was a fundamental right.

The court had then also directed the government to ensure that the Aadhaar card is not made mandatory for citizens to avail any benefit. It had also ordered that the card would not be used for any purposes other than linking it to PDS and LPG cylinders
However, the UIDAI, Trai, IRDA, Sebi, RBI, Pension Fund Regulatory Authority and different state governments, including, Jharkhand, Haryana and Rajasthan, sought modification of the order, saying if the starving poor voluntarily came forward for the Aadhaar, it should be allowed to be used.

The Trai claimed the card issued by the UIDAI should be permitted to be used as valid document for purchasing SIM cards in order to obviate any possibility of the mobile phone being used by terrorists.

The Sebi also claimed the use of the card would help in curbing use of black money in stock market.