The Supreme Court will today deliver its verdict in the case challenging the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar. A 5-judge bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, reserved its verdict in the case on May 10 after a marathon 38-day hearing. The bench also comprises Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan. The CJI and Justice Khanwilkar will not give separate judgments, but will concur with one of the other judges.
The verdict is expected at 10:30 a.m. Here are some of the important judgments and tweets:
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FINAL RESULT
SC Upholds most of the provisions of #Aadhar Act by 4:1 Majority.
Justice Chandrachud is the sole dissenter— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) September 26, 2018
12:30 pm:
Justice Bhushan has pronounced his judgement, here are the key takeaways from his judgement. The justice largely agrees with the majority judgement.
– Aadhaar Act does not violate right to privacy, and passes the three-fold test of the 9-judge bench which declared privacy as a fundamental right under the Constitution last year.
– Upheld Section 7, Section 59, Bank linking and Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act
– Says implementation problems do not invalidate Section 7, and there is no material record to show that exclusion has increased after Aadhaar. Authentication success rates can improve, even if it is probabilistic as of now.
– Says authorities have to take steps to minimise exclusion
– Section 57 partially struck down.
12:15am:
“Constitutional guarantees cannot be compromised by vicissitudes of technology.”
Man of the day?https://t.co/Dsdo85pMPx
— Apoorva Mandhani (@MandhaniApoorva) September 26, 2018
Justice Chandrachud has, in fact, given a completely dissenting judgement from the majority judgment by Justice Sikri. The Justice has held that the Aadhaar, as a whole since 2009, is completely violative of privacy and is unconstitutional.
He says the data collected by the Aadhaar programme shall be kept for a year, if the government is unable to reenact a reasonable law, it must destroy the Aadhaar data. Otherwise, the new Act can be used to govern Aadhaar.
He has struck down the following:
– Section 7, and Section 57
Section 7 says that an Aadhaar number can be made mandatory for access any government subsidy, benefit, or service. Section 57 allows inexhaustive use of Aadhaar in the private sector.
Bank and mobile number linking orders by telecom operators and banks, and orders that telecom operators immediately delete and destroy Aadhaar data collected by them.
He has pronounced the following in his judgment:
- Potential surveillance is possible through Aadhaar.
- Further holds that the government’s and UIDAI’s claims on security and safeguards have not only not been convincing enough, but fall short of standards required to protect privacy and data protection.
- Says that rights of citizens and national security cannot be protected by merely a contract between UIDAI and private foreign corporations.
- Notes that the the UIDAI has taken no responsibility for identification.
11:50 am: Justice Chandrachud has written a judgment which partially dissents from Justice Sikri’s opinion. He says that Aadhaar does not qualify as money bill and calls it a subterfuge and a fraud on the Constitution despite Section 7 of the Act. Section 7 says possession of Aadhaar can be made mandatory for a person seeking a government benefit, subsidy or service.
11:43 am:
Justice Chandrachud-
Our decision must understand the dilemma between technology and power. And Mark areas where sanctity of individual is inviolable. Society is witnessing a shift into knowledge economy. At the heart of the project lies power.
— The Leaflet (@TheLeaflet_in) September 26, 2018
Justice D Y Chandrachud starts pronouncing his opinion.
It has taken substantially different matter- it could largely be called dissent.
Governance in paper could lapse into governance on paper.
— The Leaflet (@TheLeaflet_in) September 26, 2018
11:40am:
#Aadhaar: The decision to treat a bill as a money bill is amenable to judicial review, Chandrachud J. C
concurs with Sikri J. On that aspect.— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) September 26, 2018
Justice Chandrachud said judicial review protects the spirit of the constitution and arbitrary conduct.
Justice Sikri has concluded the majority judgment, Justice Chandrachud has started reading his judgement.
11:37 am:
Money bill is constitutional pic.twitter.com/nFISIRSaul
— Srinivas Kodali (@digitaldutta) September 26, 2018
11:35 am:
J. Chandrachud: In understanding the intersection of governance, technology and freedom, this decision will set the future. Our path will define limited government. The quest for digital India should address the digital divide as well.
— sflc.in (@SFLCin) September 26, 2018
11:33 am: Aadhaar not mandatory for mobile connections, DOT notification mandating this is unconstitutional. Justice Sikri said that the Aadhaar Act can be passed as the Money Bill.
11:32 am: Section 139 AA of Income Tax Act upheld. Aadhaar will be mandatory for filing income tax returns and applying for PAN.
11:31 am: Aadhaar cannot be mandated to open bank accounts. Mandatory linking of bank account with Aadhaar is unconstitutional as it does not satisfy the test of proportionality.
11:27 am: Section 57 has been struck down to the extent that “any purpose” means a purpose backed by law as far as state authorities are concerned and fully struck down for private entities.
11:25 am: Aadhaar cannot be mandated for school admissions as it is not a benefit under Section 7.
11:22 am:
Sikri J: CBSE NET cannot make Aadhaar mandatory.
Sikri J: enrolment of children only with parental consent. They should be given an option to exit on attaining majority.
— Prasanna S (@prasanna_s) September 26, 2018
Justice Sikri: Children can only be enrolled with parental consent and will have an option to exit once they turn 18.
CBSE, NET, UGC, NEET cannot make Aadhaar mandatory.
11:21 am: Throwing out the entire Aadhaar Act 2016 would be like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Justice Sikri says that although exclusion is concerning, but inclusion is the purpose of the Act. Justice Sikri said guidelines have been provided to prevent and minimise exclusion.
11:18 am: Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act 2016 has also been struck down. Private companies cannot insist on Aadhaar. (The section allows use of Aadhaar in the private sector)
11:15 am: The National Security Exception under Section 33 has been struck down.
11:12 a.m: Justice Sikri says the court has framed ten issues and goes on to elaborate on them. Justice Sikri says the Supreme Court is satisfied that there is sufficient defence mechanisms for authentication. He further says profiling is not possible with Aadhaar.
Looks like the Aadhaar Act is going to be upheld – what happens to privacy and dignity? #Aadhaar @clprscobserver
— Jayna Kothari (@jaynakothari) September 26, 2018
11:08 a.m: Justice Sikri just said this.
Sikri: Education has taken us from thumb impression to signature, technology has taken us from signature to thumb impression.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) September 26, 2018
11:02 a.m.: Justice Sikri says the most important part of the challenge was the doctrine of proportionality and the right to privacy. He says the judgment discusses privacy case extensively and follows it.
Sikri J: Question on whether strict scrutiny or just fair and reasonable standard to be adopted in testing constitutionality of laws. Says Puttaswamy leaves that open. And that this judgment had adopted the latter standard.
— Prasanna S (@prasanna_s) September 26, 2018
10: 58 am: Justice Sikri says Aadhaar eliminates any chance of duplication, and further states that the enrolment process was foolproof. Aadhaar empowers the marginalised, according to Justice Sikri.
Sikri J: Empowers marginalised section of societies as it gives identity to such persons.
— Prasanna S (@prasanna_s) September 26, 2018
10:55 am: Justice Sikri says its better be unique than be the best.
Sikri J extolling the virtues of "uniqueness".
How the word Aadhaar has completely dislodged the hindi dictionary meaning for Aadhaar by the Id provided by UIDAI.
— Prasanna S (@prasanna_s) September 26, 2018
10:49 a.m: The bench has assembled. The CJI and Justice Khanwilkar have concurred with Justice J.Sikri judgement.
Bench has assembleed. Judgment is voluminous.
First judgment is by Justice Sikri. CJI and Khanwilkar J have concurred with him. DYC J and Ashok Bhushan J have written separate opinions.
— Prasanna S (@prasanna_s) September 26, 2018
10:45 a.m:
Bench consisting of CJI, Justices Chandrachud, Sikri, Khanwilkar and Bhushan to sit shortly to deliver Aadhaar judgment. #Aadhaar
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) September 26, 2018
10:35 a.m: Former Attorney-General of India Mukul Rohatgi, who argued for the government in the case, told ANI that Aadhaar is relevant to plug loot & waste which has happened.
10:20 a.m:
Chief Justice's Court of Supreme Court sees unprecedented crowd as the country awaits a judgment that will have effects on lives of all the citizens. #Aadhaar
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) September 26, 2018
