SC expands Aadhaar use to pension, PF and Jan Dhan Yojana

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the government to expand the use of Aadhaar-based verification to a few more services for now, even as it decided to set up a nine-judge bench to consider the legal validity of the biometric identification system.

A five-member constitution bench, however, set a key condition to using Aadhaar for releasing pensions, provident fund and dispensing wages under the rural employment scheme through the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojana. The beneficiary can decide whether or not to use it.

The decision came in the face of resistance from critics of Aadhaar who say it is inherently intrusive of the citizen’s right to privacy. A three-judge bench, which initially considered the matter, had restricted the use of Aadhaar to availing of LPG and PDS subsidies and referred it to a larger bench.

The Narendra Modi government meanwhile knocked on the court doors for allowing wider use of the Aadhaar cards, including in the banking, telecom, pension and insurance sectors.

The five-judge Constitution bench – comprising Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justices MY Eqbal, C Nagappan, Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy – after hearing Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and senior lawyers such as Shyam Divan and Gopal Subramanium for two days, indicated it would soon constituted a nine-member bench.

During a two-hour-long hearing on Thursday, lawyers led by Divan vehemently opposed Aadhaar-based identification. The earlier order permitting its use in LPG and PDS was also wrong, Divan contended.

Allowing the widespread use of Aadhaar would allow the state to digitally map a citizen, severely curbing his right to privacy, Divan said. On Wednesday, Rohatgi had argued that Aadhaar was more secure in ensuring privacy than some social media apps and mobile phones in today’s digital world.

The bench ruled in the government’s favour for now, only leaving out its pleas to allow Aadhaar for verification in banks, stock markets, insurance and telephony.

“If it is allowed for PDS and LPG why shouldn’t it be allowed for other social welfare schemes,” the Chief Justice kept asking Divan, who said the initial relaxation was also allowed despite opposition.