It was in 2009, that the Indian government saw immense potential in the use of technology for the purposes of identification and disbursement of subsidies provided by it. Towards this end, it devised a program, namely Aadhaar, whereby biometric information of individuals was to be used for the purposes of identification and verified disbursement activities.
However, this program fell under public scrutiny and was eventually challenged before the Supreme Court. At the forefront of this challenge was the argument that it was violative of the fundamental right to privacy.
But with no set date in sight for the commencement of the final hearing on the validity of Aadhaar, its detractors sought the Supreme Court’s intervention to halt the Aadhaar bandwagon. After repeated efforts, the Supreme Court directed the Union to defer some of its plans and set down the matter for a final hearing in 2018 before a bench of five judges.
The Supreme Court, on 26 September, upheld most of the Aadhaar Act’s provisions but with conditions, by a 4:1 majority. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra and comprising Justices AK Sikri, AM. Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, delivered this historic judgment. Justice Chandrachud was the sole voice of dissent who opposed the Aadhaar Act’s constitutional validity.