SC judgement is a vindication of government stand, says Arun Jaitley

NEW DELHI: Hailing the Supreme Court judgement as a positive development and a vindication of the government stand, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday slammed Congress for encroaching on the tenets of life and liberty during the Emergency. “The whole controversy which the Supreme Court has clarified today, I think, is a positive development. It is positive because as the evolution of constitutional law goes on there is always an effort to strengthen Fundamental Rights,” Jaitley said.

The Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha had spoken on the Aadhaar Bill in the House on March 16, 2016, where he emphasized: “Is privacy a fundamental Right or not? The present bill presupposes and is based on the premise and that it is too late in the day to contend that privacy is not a fundamental right. So, I do accept that probably privacy is a fundamental right.”

He, however, clarified that privacy as enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution cannot be an absolute right and the procedure established by law has to be “fair, just and reasonable”. The FM also alleged the UPA government brought Aadhaar without legislative support. “When the new government took over we brought the Aadhaar legislation. We put special provisions with regard to privacy and any person who violates it is liable for a punishment and penal consequences,” he said. Defending the need for restrictions, the FM said: “It will depend on case to case as to what is the object of restriction...