Confusion over telcos deleting Aadhaar data

There is uncertainty over whether telcos will delete all biometric data and Aadhaar details of subscribers following the Supreme Court’s September 26 judgment.

The court’s judgment upheld the constitutional validity of the nation’s ambitious biometrics and demographic information project, Aadhaar. Its majority order, delivered by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra, and Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar and Ashok Bhushan upheld the constitutional validity of Aadhaar. It also said section 57 of the Aadhaar Act that allows private firms to collect Aadhaar data by “contract” is unconstitutional; private firms’ collection of Aadhaar data must be backed by law, it added.

Justice DY Chandrachud, in the only dissent judgment, said the government and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India must also direct all telecom service providers to “delete the biometric data and Aadhaar details of all subscribers within two weeks”.

The confusion over the deletion is about whether a minority judgment can be seen as an extension of the majority judgment when the bench concurs in a particular aspect, and whether quashing of mobile linkage with Aadhaar automatically means deleting all Aadhaar data collected for this.

There are votaries for all three outcomes.

Minority judgment is binding law: Prasanna S

“The judgment is clear. Just because it’s a minority judgment, it does not stop being a Supreme Court judgment. You can find what is law declared also in a minority judgment, and that principle has been set in stone in Indian jurisprudence since the 1950s,” said Prasanna S., a lawyer who has assisted petitioners in the Aadhaar case.

“In this case as far as telecom linking is concerned, we saw that all five were in concurrence that it was unconstitutional. One judge says you need to delete the data. Therefore, that direction is to be read as the view of the court,” said Prasanna.

“Minority judgments of the highest court of the land cannot by any stretch be treated as mere

NEW DELHI: