SC won’t intervene with government decision to link Aadhaar with digital lockers

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the Narendra Modi government’s decision to make Aadhaar cards a must for people seeking to avail themselves of the recently announced digital locker facility, citing a technicality.

This service will enable citizens to store the digital copy of government documents and enable cross-sharing of e-documents in an official portal of the central government.

Social activist Sudhir Yadav had filed a public interest litigation challenging the requirement of Aadhaar cards in the top court.

But a bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Justice HL Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy, refused to interfere in the matter on technical grounds.

Referring to Yadav’s plea to punish the officers who had insisted on Aadhaar cards for enrolling in the digital locker facility, the bench said he should instead file a contempt petition against the errant bureaucrats.

Yadav had said in his petition that the officers of the information technology department had made Aadhaar cards mandatory for the e-service although the court had banned all government agencies from linking it to any social security benefits.

The government had on July 1, at the launch of Digital India Week, announced the service of digital locker for all citizens of the country. The court order banning insistence on Aadhaar cards preceded this announcement.