Reasonable restrictions on Aadhaar will further strengthen it: UIDAI
New Delhi, Sep 26 : Calling it historic and landmark, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court judgment on Aadhaar and said the reasonable conditions and restrictions imposed on the private usage of unique identity data would further strengthen it.
UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey said the verdict, which upheld the constitutional validity of the unique identification document albeit with some modifications, was a victory for the organisation as well as the government.
"Aadhaar has come out winning as the champion of the empowerment of people, especially the marginalised sections of the society and also as the key to the welfare schemes delivery of the government that has eradicated the fakes, duplicates and middlemen," he said.
However, some reasonable conditions and restrictions on private usage have been imposed as safeguards that would further strengthen Aadhaar as the unique identity in the service of the people especially the poor, he added.
In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of Aadhaar but restricting it to the disbursement of social benefits and junking its requirement for cell phones and bank accounts.
In a majority judgment, a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra held that Aadhaar would be voluntary and not mandatory.
The court struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act which allows private entities to demand Aadhaar to access their services.
In a statement, UIDAI said the Aadhaar Act had withstood the judicial scrutiny and "the purpose of the Act is legitimate".
"Aadhaar as an idea is fully upheld that it does not create a surveillance state and does not violate privacy. The verdict (upholds that) Aadhaar is a tool of empowerment of the marginalised sections of the society.
"The apex court also upheld that the Aadhaar Act passed as a money bill is valid. It has further gone on to say that the Aadhaar Act meets the concept of limited government, good governance, and constitutional trust," the statement said.
UIDAI said the verdict had recognised that Aadhaar "respects human dignity and does not violate privacy" and that it passes the "balancing tests" collecting only minimal data.
"It has been established by the judgment that Aadhaar is not for the state surveillance as profiling is not possible using the minimal data that Aadhaar has. There are sufficient safeguards to disallow any abuse," it said.
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'Last rites' of INDIA bloc: BJP on Cong-DMK fallout in Tamil Nadu
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress for extending support to Vijay's TVK in forming the government in Tamil Nadu and breaking away from its long term ally DMK, saying the party has a history of "betraying" its allies.
The saffron party also attacked the opposition INDIA bloc, claiming the alliance is "falling apart like a pack of cards" and lacks any common ideology or vision.
The Tamil Nadu Congress has decided to support TVK leader Vijay in forming a secular government in the state, sources said.
The decision to support the TVK was taken at an urgent meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) of Tamil Nadu Congress late on Tuesday night.
Reacting to the development, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed the INDIA alliance had effectively come to an end after the declaration of assembly election results on May 4.
"There is nobody whom the Congress has not deceived. Imagine what they will do to the Samajwadi Party if they have done this to the DMK," he wrote in a post on X.
Calling it the "last rites" of the INDIA bloc, Poonawalla, in a video post, said, "It has become a Bharat free of the DMK, TMC and the Left, and now Congress has dumped the DMK for the TVK."
The BJP spokesperson alleged that the opposition bloc was formed solely out of political compulsions and personal ambitions.
"The INDI alliance never had any mission or vision. It was only about ambition for position, corruption, commission and obsession against Modi ji that they came together. But now it is all falling apart like a pack of cards," he said.
Questioning the unity of the opposition parties, Poonawalla said the alliance was absent in several states during the election.
"Where was the INDI alliance in Bengal, in Kerala, in Gujarat, in Punjab, in Delhi, in Haryana, in Karnataka? There is no INDI alliance," he said.
The DMK on Wednesday described the Congress move to extend support to TVK as a "backstab" by its long-time national ally.
Speaking to PTI videos, DMK spokesperson Saravanan Anadurai said, "The Congress party has decided to ally with the TVK, pledging their support to the party. I think they have backstabbed... They have backstabbed the people of Tamil Nadu. They've backstabbed the mandate given by the people of Tamil Nadu."
He said that the decision came even before the electoral process had fully concluded.
"Even before the ink on the returning officer's signature on the victory certificate dried up, they've chosen to go ahead with an alliance," he said.
Vijay's TVK won 108 seats in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, falling short of the halfway mark. He needs the support of 10 MLAs to form a government with a simple majority. The results were declared only on Monday.
The Congress has won five seats, while the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has bagged four seats. The CPI and CPI-M have two seats each. The outgoing ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), has won 59 seats while the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has won 47 seats.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won only one seat, and so have the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam (AMMK), while the VCK has won two seats.
The Congress had fought the assembly polls in a pre-poll alliance with the DMK, while the BJP had a tie-up with the AIADMK.
