The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the validity of Aadhaar in a 4:1 majority verdict but limited its scope, jeopardising the Narendra Modi government’s aggressive push to link the scheme to a host of services. It struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, which allowed private entities like telecom companies to demand and use biometric Aadhaar data. But the majority verdict upheld the bill’s passage as a money bill by the Lok Sabha. Dignity to the marginalised outweighs privacy,” Justice Sikri, who wrote the majority verdict for himself and Justices Misra and Khanwilkar, said. The Congress was happy that the Aadhaar scheme, a UPA brainchild, had been retained while most of the “illegal distortions” had been thrown out.

Source: The Telegraph September 26, 2018 21:33 UTC