Supreme Court modifies interim order on Aadhaar; Right to privacy to be heard by larger Bench

The Supreme Court today modified the interim order pertaining to the use of Aadhaar. The court also directed the case be placed before a larger Bench to decide the issue of the status of right to privacy in Indian jurisprudence..With the modification of the order of August 11, the voluntary use of Aadhaar has now been permitted for MNREGA scheme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna, Provident Fund scheme and Pension scheme..The decision was taken by a Constitution Bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu and Justices MY Eqbal, C Nagappan, Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy..Senior Advocates Shyam Divan and Gopal Subramanium appeared for the petitioners while Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the Central government..The high voltage hearing today witnessed Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and Senior Advocate Shyam Divan at loggerheads..At the outset, Divan argued that the interim application seeking modification amounted to a review and should be filed by way of a review petition and be heard by the same 3-judge Bench which had passed the order of August 11. He further submitted that the use of fingerprinting for identification is totally unreliable since the ridges in the palms will wear out in those people engaged in physical labour..Senior Advocate Gopal Subramanium also joined the party and attacked the scheme saying:.“Give me 15 minutes, I am very confident that Your Lordships will be aghast and will not give your bio metrics.”.However, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi intervened and submitted that the petitioner lacks bona fides..“This is not a PIL..This is not bona fide”.After a lengthy deliberation, the Bench and the parties finally agreed to extend the permission to use Aadhaar for four more schemes – MNREGA, Pradhan Mantri Dhan Jan Yojna, Provident Fund scheme and Pension scheme. This will be in addition to the LPG and PDS scheme which had been allowed by the Court in the previous order..However, the Bench stated that the use of Aadhaar for these schemes would be voluntary and the government could not insist on Aadhaar as the only proof of identity..This would mean that Aadhaar will be one of the many modes to avail the benefits under aforementioned schemes and none can be denied any benefit under any of these schemes if they do not have Aadhaar. Further, the government is prohibited from using Aadhar (even voluntarily) for any other scheme other than the aforementioned six schemes..The Bench has also directed that the matter be placed before a larger Bench to decide on the Constitutional question regarding right to privacy.