The government on Friday did not rule out the possibility of bringing in a legislation to give legal sanctity to Aadhaar cards. This would enable use of Aadhaar cards in government schemes and other areas including for taxation purposes.
A case in this respect is already pending in the Supreme Court, with petitioners alleging breach of privacy if the Aadhaar card is made mandatory in various government schemes since it uses biometric data like fingerprint and iris scans.
In concluding remarks in Delhi Economics Conclave here, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said, “...probably the government would try to place its stand before the court, and I think both options of being in court and before the legislature would always be open for any executive government.”
“Aadhaar and JAM Trinity are here to say,” the finance minister said. JAM refers to use of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhar and transfers through mobile. He said a draft legislation on the issue is already there. He was referring to the National Identification Authority of India Bill.
Last month, the apex court had allowed Aadhaar to be used in government schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Jan-Dhan Yojana, provident funds and pension schemes on a voluntary basis.
Earlier, the court has restricted the use of the card only for availing subsidies under the public distribution system and purchasing kerosene and cooking gas and that too on a voluntary basis. The finance minister said the issue does not confine to use of Aadhaar card to just a few schemes of the government but also to taxation matters.
“I think an enormity of this is in taxation matters also. (It) has to be analysed, it can lead to large amount of savings, can prevent large amount of evasion so far as taxations are concerned,” he said.
Jaitley said there was a consensus on the need of Aadhaar card across political spectrum. “I think, now across the political spectrum, state governments after state governments, political groups after political groups, the need for this and utility for this has been universally recognised,” he said.
Earlier, at the conclave, former Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India Nandan Nilekani emphasised the need of a law to bring clarity to the whole issue. Jaitley said normally courts entertain challenges on issues which are judicially determinable. “As to what should be a methodology adopted in governance is not clearly judicially determinable matter. It's a matter for the executive government to decide. Having said this, courts can be concerned if fundamental rights are violated by a particular executive action,” he said.
The whole emphasis is on the right to privacy, which is allegedly violated, as far as those who filed the petitions are concerned, Jaitley said. The court has already referred a related debate over whether privacy is a fundamental right to a Constitution Bench. The courts have got involved in a larger dispute between a view taken in 1950s and another view taken in 1990s as to whether privacy is part of the Fundamental Right of Liberty or not because there are two conflicting views. That will take its own time as far as its resolution is concerned, Jaitley said.
"But, I think we can't have a situation where Aadhaar is acceptable for a certain kind of measures to be adopted by the government, but not acceptable for certain other kind of measures. There has to be a universal kind of standards to be laid down," he said.
