Referring the Supreme Court verdict as a “slap on the face of BJP”, the Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Wednesday welcomed the judgement to strike down Section 57 of the Aadhaar act, under which private parties had the access to Aadhaar data. Though, the apex court’s bench declared the centre’s flagship Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid.
Congress spokesperson and a Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi was of the opinion that the verdict on Aadhaar is a “slap on the face of BJP”. He took to Twitter and wrote, “Slap on the face of BJP. Justice Sikri judgement strikes down Section 57 of Aadhaar Act, 2016, which says private body corporates can seek Aadhaar data. Says it’s unconstitutional. All plans to monetise biometric data now fail.”
The senior Congress leader said that the judgement of the apex court is like a setback for the BJP government favouring Digital India propaganda. He wrote, “Slap on the face of Digital India propaganda of BJP. Chandrachud J says that Digital India cant submerge identities. “Quest for digital India must be cognisant of the digital divide…Digital nation must not submerge the identities of a digitised citizen” . substance vs p’ganda (sic)”
Soon after the verdict announced by the Supreme Court bench, the Congress party took to Twitter and wrote, “We welcome the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act. Private entities are no longer allowed to use Aadhaar for verification purposes.”
The bench comprising CJI Dipak Misra and Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan announced the verdict on Wednesday. In the verdict, they said the Aadhaar card would not be mandatory in private companies, banks and mobile companies. Also, the bench maintained that educational institutions too cannot ask for Aadhaar cards details. However, it will be mandatory for PAN card, subsidies and IT returns.
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