New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to clarify within two weeks its stand on the Aadhaar card scheme, introduced in 2009 by the then Congress-led UPA government for giving unique identification number to every resident across the country.
A bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice A K Sikri asked Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar to take instructions from the government and make its stand clear by February 13.
The bench sought the clarification while hearing a fresh PIL challenging the continued enrolment process under the scheme by collecting biometric information of all citizens, including Army officers and government servants, without any legal sanction for the purpose.
Denior advocate Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for the petitioner, a retired army officer, said that such schemes have already been scrapped by many countries and the Centre should be directed to destroy all data collected by it under the scheme.
"Even illegal migrants in country are getting Aadhaar card, enabling them to avail government services which are meant only for citizens of India and not for mere residents. The avowed objectives of UID scheme are itself farcical and the entire exercise is nothing but colossal waste of public money and exposes India's vulnerabilities," he said.
He said introduction of the UID project affects and abridges the rights of citizens and government has not got sufficient material to come to the conclusion that such an incursion on the rights of the citizens was necessary.
Many civil rights activists had earlier filed their petition regarding the constitutional validity of the scheme which are pending in the court and govt was directed not to make Aadhaar card mandatory for citizens for getting any welfare benefits.
The fresh petitioner, Mathew Thomas in his PIL alleged that Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) itself is not making Aadhaar mandatory but other agencies like banks and insurance companies insist their customers to get UID to get continued services.
UIDAI came into existence on January 28, 2009, for providing 12-digit Aadhaar number to those citizens who registered themselves. Its purpose is envisaged as a means to enhance delivery of welfare benefits and services.
The number is stored in a secure database and linked to the basic demographics, biometric information, photograph, 10 fingerprints and iris of each individual.
