(PTI)
The Supreme Court Friday asked the Centre to respond to a plea challenging the constitutional validity of the amendments made in the law allowing private entities to use the Aadhaar data provided voluntarily by customers for ID authentication. A bench, comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justice B R Gavai, took note of the plea filed by S G Vombatkere, who alleged that the 2019 amendments into the Aadhaar Act was violative of the earlier apex court judgments.
Earlier, a 5-judge Constitution bench, while upholding the validity of Aadhaar act, had made certain exceptions and said private entities cannot be allowed to use the data even for voluntary authentication of customers’ details.Later, the Centre amended the law allowing voluntary use of Aadhaar as proof of identity to open bank accounts and get mobile phone connection.
The apex court issued notice on the fresh PIL and tagged it with a separate pending case for hearing.The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed in Rajya Sabha in July by a voice vote, although many Opposition parties had opposed it citing various reasons, including apprehensions data theft.
