Aadhaar Ensures Right To A Dignified Life, Government Argues In Supreme Court
Attorney General KK Venugopal begins arguments on behalf of the government in the Aadhaar matter.
The Aadhaar programme will ensure the right to a dignified existence for India’s citizens, Attorney General for India KK Venugopal said, as he began arguments for the government in ongoing Aadhaar hearing
The Right to Life which is a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 21 of the Indian Constitution also includes the right to live with dignity, the Attorney General said. The plugging of leakages and targeted delivery of subsidies can achieve that goal for all citizens, he added.
In January, a Constitutional bench began hearing a batch of petitions challenging the Aadhaar Act and use of Aadhaar across government and private services. The hearing is in its 20th day.
At the start of today’s hearing, Venugopal informed the court that he will answer specific questions on the law and sought the apex court’s permission to allow the Unique Identification Authority of India’s Chief Executive Officer Ajay Bhushan Pandey to answer questions related to technical and security aspects of the Aadhaar scheme.
Countering the arguments of petitioners who claimed that data collected during 2009-2016, before the Aadhaar Act came into existence, was unconstitutional, the Attorney General said that the programme, at the time, was completely voluntary. Senior Advocate Gopal Subramaniam had said on behalf of the petitioners that this data was collected without any legislative backing and should, therefore, be destroyed.
On the question of exclusion, the Attorney General reiterated the government’s stand that no citizen has been denied benefits due to the lack of an Aadhaar card. “Not a single person has come to court and said that they have been denied any benefits, services or subsidies for lack of an Aadhaar card,” he said.
The Attorney General will continue his arguments tomorrow. Once he completes his arguments, he will be followed by Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi who is appearing for the Unique Identification Authority of India and Senior Advocate Jayant Bhushan will argue on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India.
Watch this discussion with Suhrith Parthasarathy, advocate at the Madras High Court on the validity of the Centre’s arguments.