The Supreme Court on Wednesday declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme as Constitutionally valid, but also struck down certain sections of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, as a result of which phone companies and banks cannot insist on linking numbers and accounts with the Aadhaar card. Private companies, too, cannot insist that customers supply their Aadhaar data.

The apex court’s five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra said Aadhaar is meant to help benefits reach the marginalised sections of the society and takes into account the dignity of people, not only from personal but also from community point of view.

Aadhaar is serving a much bigger public interest, the apex court said, adding that Aadhaar means unique and it is better to be unique than being best.

It will remain mandatory to link the Aadhaar card with the PAN card. The Aadhaar card will also be necessary for filing income-tax returns and for accessing government welfare schemes and subsidies.

The apex court, however, also asked the government to implement laws that would ensure data protection.

Banks can no longer demand Aadhar verification for opening accounts. It will also not be mandatory to link Aadhaar cards to mobile phone numbers, the bench ruled.

The Supreme Court has also said that Aadhaar is not mandatory for UGC, NEET and CBSE examinations.

Justice Sikri said unique identification proof also empowers and gives identity to the marginalised sections of society. There is no possibility of obtaining a duplicate Aadhaar card, he said, adding that there is sufficient defence mechanism for authentication in the Aadhaar scheme.

Written with Agency reports