'Slap on BJP's face': Congress on Supreme Court's big Aadhaar verdict

Welcoming the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, the Congress on Wednesday described the apex court's verdict as a 'slap ob the face of the BJP'. Section 57 of the Aadhaar act allowed private entities to access Aadhaar data.

 

The Supreme Court while upholding the constitutional validity of Aadhaar ruled that no private firm can insist on having Aadhaar details.

 

Moments after the Supreme Court read out its judgment, the Congress took to Twitter to laud the verdict.  

 

 

"We welcome the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act. Private entities are no longer allowed to use Aadhaar for verification purposes," the Congress said.

 

 

Several Congress leaders also spoke on the judgement."The delinking of Aadhaar from private entities is a 'slap on the face of BJP", said Congress national spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

 

"Slap on the face of BJP. Justice Sikri judgement strikes down Section 57 of Aadhaar Act, 2016, which says private body corporates can seek Aadhaar data. Says it’s unconstitutional. All plans to monetise biometric data now fail," he tweeted.

 

 

He also hailed the Supreme Court's move to disallow metadata to be stored in its current form. 

 

"If the information of a person’s personal information is sought to be released, he or she shall have an opportunity to be heard. SC rightly appreciated brilliant idea in origin; protected its core; promoted its development and eliminated its flotsam & jetsam. SC brilliantly threw out #bjp #modi accumulated dirty bathwater and saved the baby. Org intent of UPA ie to give identity 2 marginalised ppl now shines (sic)," he said.  

 

His colleague Randeep Singh Surjewala said the Supreme Court verdict "upholds the individual’s right to privacy".

 

"Modi Govt’s draconian Section 57 quashed - Bank A/c, Mobile, School, Airlines, Travel Agents, Pvt entities requiring Aaadhar Data quashed. Time to take next step to destroy the citizen’s data so collected now," he said on Twitter.

 

 

The majority verdict by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri and A M Khanwilkar declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme constitutionally valid but struck down some of its provisions, including its linking with bank accounts, mobile phones and school admissions.