SC says likelihood of Aadhaar law misuse not enough to scrap it

NEWDELHI: The possibility of misuse of the Aadhaar law cannot be a reason for striking it down, the Supreme Court observed on Tuesday while hearing petitions challenging various government notifications making the 12-digit unique identity number mandatory for various social schemes and services, including some provided by private firms.

Justice DY Chandrachud, one of the five judges on the bench hearing the Aadhaar case said: “There are a number of judgments where the court has held that mere apprehension of misuse is not sufficient reason to strike down a law.” Justice Chandrachud was responding to a proposition by senior advocate and former communication and information technology minister Kapil Sibal’s argument that Aadhaar has the potential of being misused by governments and private corporations.

Sibal is appearing for one of the 30 petitioners who have challenged the Aadhaar law in the top court. The former minister in the UPA government which ushered in the Aadhaar scheme attacked the project calling it a Right to Information Act for the government.

In a rare display of agreement with the Prime Minister, Sibal said he agreed with Narendra Modi’s recent statement at the World Economic Forum in Davos that a country that controls data will control the world. “Similarly, he who controls the data in India controls India,” Sibal added Sibal also pointed out that “no law can and should allow an individual’s data to be put at risk in the absence of technologically assured and safe environment.”

Emphasizing the need to have a data protection law to safeguard an individual’s privacy, Justice Chandrachud said, “Even voluntary parting of personal data to a private entity is only “notionally consensual”.