Justice Ashok Bhushan

The requirement under Aadhaar Act to give one’s demographic and biometric information does not violate the fundamental right of privacy. The provisions of Aadhaar Act requiring demographic and biometric information from a resident for Aadhaar number passes a three-fold test as laid down in the Puttaswamy case, hence cannot be said to be unconstitutional. Collection of data, its storage and use does not violate the fundamental right to privacy. Aadhaar Act does not create an architecture for pervasive surveillance. Aadhaar Act and Regulations provides protection and safety of the data received from individuals. Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act is constitutional. The provision does not deserve to be struck down on account of denial in some cases of the right to claim on account of the failure of authentication. The State, while enlivening Right to Food, Right to Shelter etc. envisaged under Article 21 cannot encroach upon the right of privacy of beneficiaries, nor former can be given precedence over the latter. Section 33 cannot be said to be unconstitutional as it provides for the use of Aadhaar database for police investigation nor it can be said to violate protection granted under Article 20(3).

Aadhaar’s inclusion into PAN is meant to curb tax evasion, sham transactions, entry providers which are rampantly carried out on account of bogus PANS. Aadhaar’s unique de-duplication based on biometric identification has been hailed as the most sophisticated system by the World Bank. Inclusion of Aadhaar into PAN eliminates the inequality between honest taxpayers and non-compliant, dishonest ones who get away without paying taxes. Inclusion of Aadhaar into PAN promotes rather than negates equality. It bolsters equality and is consistent with Art. 14.

Even if authentication under Aadhaar scheme is probabilistic as on date, we have no doubt that the steps will be taken to minimise the mismatch and to attain more accuracy in the result. Aadhaar Act has been rightly passed as a Money Bill. The decision of Speaker certifying the Aadhaar Bill, 2016 as Money Bill is not immune from Judicial Review. The petitioners are right in their submissions that for enrolment of a children between five and 18 years, there has to be consent of their parents or guardian because they unable to give any valid consent for enrolment.

EVEN IF AUTHENTICATION UNDER AADHAAR IS PROBABILISTIC AS ON DATE, WE HAVE NO DOUBT STEPS WILL BE TAKEN TO MINIMISE THE MISMATCH AND ATTAIN MORE ACCURACY IN THE RESULT