Aadhaar can’t be rolled back, Centre tells SC

R Sedhuraman

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi, July 21

The Centre today told the Supreme Court that it was very difficult to roll back the Aadhaar scheme as it had gone too far.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said 80 crore people of the entire population of about 120 crore had already been covered under the Aadhaar programme. The government had so far spent Rs 5,000 crore on the scheme.

The Attorney General also pleaded with a three-member Bench headed by Justice J. Chelameswar to refer the PILs against the Aadhaar scheme to a Constitution Bench of not less than five judges. 

Several welfare programmes and subsidy schemes had been linked to Aadhaar and scrapping it now would affect the government’s efforts to eradicate poverty, the Attorney General said.

The Bench said the Attorney General could make his submissions on this issue tomorrow. This was necessary as the petitioners had raised several Constitutional provisions to challenge the validity of the scheme.

Senior Advocate Shyam Divan said collection of biometrics of people for enrolment under Aadhaar was against the fundamental right to privacy.

Divan was appearing for one of the petitioners.

The government would be in a position to mount surveillance on citizens by tracking their movements round the clock by making use of the biometrics, he said.