New Delhi, April 5: The Supreme Court on Thursday raised questions that the 12-digit Aadhaar number, provided by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) can't stop bank fraud. The Court further stated that the biometric identifier can do very little to stop frauds. On Wednesday, the Court expressed concern over Aadhaar Act being too “open-ended” and allowing the government to expand its scope in the future to collect more biological attributes.

While expressing concern at the extent of powers that the 2016 Aadhaar law had given to the UIDAI, Justice DY Chandrachud, part of a Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, asked attorney general KK Venugopal, "Tomorrow, UIDAI (Aadhaar body) may even say give your blood sample for doing DNA test," adding, “Isn’t it excessive delegation if you give Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) the authority to add whatever as biometric and decide mode of collection.”

“Blood, urine, DNA may be added, but that will be subject to examination by the courts, just like right now the court is examining whether collection of fingerprints and Iris scans are a violation of privacy, he said. To this, Venugopal asserted that government’s Aadhaar scheme satisfies the test of proportionality by showing a rational nexus between the means and the goal. He added that all subsidies were part of right to life with dignity and would prevail over the right to privacy.

The apex court had refused to pass an interim order extending the deadline of March 31 for linking of Aadhaar with the welfare schemes where benefits are transferred to citizens from the Consolidated Fund of India. The bench is hearing on clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law.

As per reports, the government told a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra which is examining the validity of Aadhaar scheme and its enabling 2016 law that in a digital era, Aadhaar is the best way to prevent "money laundering and deliver subsidies and benefits".

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 05, 2018 02:17 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).