SC to hear petitions challenging Aadhaar link to social schemes

THE PETITIONERS WANT THE SC TO DETERMINE WHETHER GOVT DECLARING AADHAAR MUST TO AVAIL BENEFITS OF SUBSIDIES VIOLATED THE 2015 ORDER

New Delhi The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to accord an early hearing to petitions that have challenged the Centre’s decision to make Aadhaar number mandatory for social welfare schemes.

The petitioners want the top court to determine whether the government notifications declaring Aadhaar necessary to avail subsidy benefits violated SC’s 2015 order holding it was not mandatory for a citizen to obtain the 12-digit unique identification number. The court had also ordered the government to not deny benefits for want of Aadhaar.

Senior advocate Shyam Divan made an urgent mentioning before a bench led by Chief Justice JS Khehar who agreed to hear the counsel on May 17.

“Despite the order of this court that Aadhaar will be voluntary and not mandatory, the government has been coming out with a series of notifications making it mandatory to avail benefits of schemes such as scholarships, Right to Food and mid-day meal in schools,” said Divan, appearing for Shanta Sinha, former chairperson of National Commission For Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), one of the petitioners in the Aadhaar matter.

Solicitor general Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Centre, objected to Divan’s request, saying some interim orders allowing Aadhaar have been passed by a five-judge bench and it would not be appropriate to list the matter before two judges. He informed the bench that the Centre had come out with a new law to accord a legislative backing to the scheme.

The Centre on Friday exempted NRIs, senior citizens and residents of J&K and certain northeastern states from having to mandatorily quote their Aadhaar number to obtain PAN cards and file income tax returns.

While presenting the Union Budget 2017-18, the government had inserted Section 139AA in the Income Tax Act to make Aadhaar compulsory for filing I-T returns and obtaining PAN card numbers from July. However, the government has now made the exemption. Government officials said this was done because many people in the three states are yet to get Aadhaar cards, and there was a dearth of agencies to collect the data.

An RSS office-bearer accused in the murder of a CPI(M) worker last year was hacked to death near Kannur on Friday.

The RSS-BJP combine has called for a shutdown in the district on Saturday to protest the killing. Police said the officebearer was waylaid and allegedly hacked to death by a group of CPI(M )workers. He died on the way to a hospital.

“The CPI(M) is trying to foment trouble in the district. We can’t be a mute spectator if the party continued to let loose violence against our workers,” said BJP Kannur district secretary Sathyaprakash. But the CPI(M) district leadership denied any role. The state BJP leadership has accused CPI(M) of the crime.

The RSS worker, Biju, in his early 30s, is the 12th accused in the murder of CPI-M worker Dhanaraj, that took place near Payyanur here last July. Biju was out on bail. The police have cordoned off the area and probe has begun. HTC