Aadhaar Card Scrapped by Supreme Court

BMM welcomes Order

Bharat Mukti Morcha (BMM) welcomes Supreme Court order of 23^rd September 2013 against Aadhaar Cards. Supreme Court ruling through its bench of Justices B. S. Chauhan and S. A. Bhobde held that Aadhaar Card cannot be mandatory for accessing public services and subsidies. 

Times of India of 24^th September 2013 reported about the Public Interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Petitioners, Justice Puttuswamy and another,  said they had ascertained that the Unique Identification Number Project proposed to give UID numbers not only to citizens but also to illegal migrants pursuant to a scheme framed by the government through an executive order of January 28, 2009. Referring to several judgments of the Supreme Court on right to privacy of a citizen guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution, the petitioners said, “Collecting biometric information as a condition precedent for the issue of Aadhaar card is an invasion of right to privacy of citizens and thereby this can only be done by a law enacted by Parliament and hence, beyond the executive power.”

Bharat Mutki Morcha has been agitating against Aadhaar cards for the past few years and this Supreme Court order is a welcome one. Indian government now ought to take immediate steps to delete the data collected from Aadhaar Cards and stop all the centers engaged in Aadhaar Card exercise.

In Goa too largely Aadhaar Card nuisance has been aggressively promoted by the State government. Gas cylinders too have been linked to Aadhaar card by HP, BP and Indane gas companies. Cooking gas is very basic need of human being. 

Now the Supreme Court has ordered the non-applicability of Aadhaar Card for the following:

1.       Registration of marriages

2.       Salaries for government employees

3.       Provident Fund

4.       Bank account

5.       Gas Cylinders

Aadhaar Card is not compulsory any more. All the Centres involved in preparing Aadhaar card must stop with immediate effect in Goa too. Now that the Aadhaar Card is chucked out Gas cylinders must be sold at Rs 418/- as it was before introduction of Aadhaar Card without any complications.