It’s fraud on Constitution, says Justice Chandrachud
In his dissenting verdict Justice D.Y. Chandrachud held the Aadhaar law as unconstitutional as the data and information collected for issue of Aadhaar identity card infringes on right to privacy of an individual. Further the Aadhaar law introduced in Parliament, as a ‘Money Bill’ is a fraud on the Constitution.
He said the Aadhaar project suffers from crucial design flaws which impact upon its structural probity. Structural design in delivering
welfare entitlements must be compliant with structural due process, to be in accord with Articles 14 and 21. The Aadhaar project has failed to account for and remedy the flaws in its framework and design, which lead to serious issues of exclusion.
He said the decision of Speaker to classify a bill, as money bill is amenable to judicial review. “If a constitution has to survive political aggrandisement, notions of power and authority must give compliance to rule of law.”
He said a decision of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to declare an ordinary Bill to be
a Money Bill limits the role of the Rajya Sabha. The power of the Speaker cannot be exercised arbitrarily in violation of constitutional norms and values, as it damages the essence of federal bicameralism, which is a part of the basic structure of the Constitution. If the bill was not a Money Bill, the role of the Rajya Sabha in its legislative passage could not have been denuded. The Court cannot countenance the debasement of a constitutional institution.
In his dissenting verdict Justice D.Y. Chandrachud held the Aadhaar law as unconstitutional as the data and information collected for issue of Aadhaar identity card infringes on right to privacy of an individual. Further the Aadhaar law introduced in Parliament, as a ‘Money Bill’ is a fraud on the Constitution.
The Aadhaar project was held to be violative of informational privacy, data protection. “Constitutional guarantees cannot be compromised by vicissitudes of technology”, he observed. Section 57 of the Act was held to be violating Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. Allowing private enterprise to use Aadhaar numbers will lead to exploitation of data.
Justice Chandrachud held that entire Aadhar project which commenced from 2009 suffered from constitutional invalidity. The government repeatedly violated the interim orders of the Supreme Court, which had prohibited making Aadhar mandatory for availing benefits.
Based on the premise of unconstitutionality of Aadhar, Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act which mandated linking of PAN with Aaadhar, he struck down the provision. He said the Dignity and rights of individuals couldn’t be based on algorithms or probabilities. Constitutional guarantees cannot be subject to the vicissitudes of technology.
Once a biometric system is compromised, it is compromised forever. Therefore, it is imperative that concerns about protecting privacy must be addressed while developing a biometric system.