SC to hear pleas challenging Aadhaar verdict on June 9
nNEW DELHI: A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court will hear on June 9 a batch of review petitions challenging the top court’s September 2018 verdict upholding the validity of Aadhaar, the unique identity number assigned to people resident in the country .
The bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde will decide the review petitions in chambers.
In its judgment on September 26, 2018, the top court had by a 4-1 majority affirmed the constitutionality of the 12-digit unique identity scheme and the Aadhaar Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services Act, 2016 (Aadhaar Act).
The court held that Aadhaar would be mandatory for accessing social welfare schemes, but it cannot be forced on people for opening bank accounts or for mobile and internet connection.
The Aadhaar scheme was first challenged in the Supreme Court in 2012 on the grounds that it lacked statutory backing and invaded the right to privacy.
Parliament later introduced the Aadhaar Act in 2016 to give it legal backing. The Aadhaar Act itself was then challenged before the apex court on the grounds that it was passed as a money bill, thereby circumventing the upper house of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha.
A money bill, according to Article 110 of the Constitution, is a bill that contains only provisions relating to taxation, borrowing of money by the government, appropriation of money out of the Consolidated Fund of India and expenditure from or to the Consolidated Fund of India. A money bill originates in the Lok Sabha and once passed by the lower house by a simple majority, is sent to the Rajya Sabha for its recommendations. The recommendations made by the Rajya Sabha on money bills are not binding on the Lok Sabha.
When the challenge to the Aadhaar
Act was being heard, a constitutional question came up – whether or not right to privacy is a fundamental right under the Constitution?
A 9-judge bench of Supreme Court heard this issue and gave a unanimous verdict in August 2017 declaring privacy a fundamental right, being a facet of the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution.
More than a year later, a fivejudge bench headed by then CJI Dipak Misra delivered its judgment, upholding the validity of Aadhaar saying it saying it involved “parting with minimal information” to fulfil the “larger public interest” of the marginalized and the poor, who can use it to obtain government benefits and subsidies, an argument which was strongly put forward by the central government in defence of the unique identity number.
The sole dissenting judge, justice DY Chandrachud, said the Aadhaar Act could not have been passed as a money bill, calling it a “fraud on the Constitution”.
nNEWDELHI: As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) begins preparations for the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar, deputy chief minister and senior party leader Sushil Modi has dismissed speculation that BJP and the Janata Dal (United), or JDU, will not seek re-election as allies.
Describing the alliance as “a reliable partnership,” Modi said the synergy between the Centre and the state government had created a successful model of governance in the state.
“Schemes at the Centre and at the state level have ensured that Bihar has seen development that eluded it for years. Villages have been electrified, water is being provided under har ghar jal (water in every household), power is being provided for agricultural purposes at low cost,” he said in a phone interview..
Signs of discord between the allies surfaced on the issue of brining back migrant Bihar workers stranded outside the state during the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19)
SUSHIL MODI, Bihar deputy CM
pandemic.
As BJP leaders pushed for letting the workers travel back home, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar insisted on the Centre first framing guidelines for the return of migrant workers to the state.
There have also been murmurs within the party that the state government’s response to the migrant worker and it inability to offer jobs will have an adverse impact on the electoral fortunes of the allies and that the BJP should consider fighting the Bihar elections on its own.
Modi said no dichotomy existed between the allies on the issue.
“Our CM said there have to be proper guidelines for bringing back migrants. And once the Centre came up with those; 20
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Schemes at the Centre and state level have ensured that Bihar has seen development that eluded it for years.
lakh workers were brought back on trains, their fare was reimbursed; we set up quarantine centres, transferred money to their accounts, we gave free ration up to 10 kg. So where is the question of workers not having been looked after,” he said.
On Sunday former BJP president and Union home minister Amit Shah will address a virtual rally in the state, an indication that party has resumed political activity ahead of the elections to the 243-member assembly.
The JDU and B JP two parties will continue the alliance because it offers them a better a chance of coping with antiincumbency, said DM Diwakar, former director of the Patnabased A N Sinha Institute of Social Studies.
“There have been failures on many fronts, development, law and order and governance. The corona pandemic has exposed the collapsed state of health infrastructure so it makes sense for the two parties to go together and cover up for these failures by offering doles and more work under MNREGA {Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act},” he said.