Centre opposes Ramesh's plea in SC on Aadhaar Bill

Chidambaram said the Aadhaar Bill could not be treated as a Money Bill so the petition had been filed under Article 32

The Centre on Tuesday opposed Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s petition in the Supreme Court that questioned the decision to treat Aadhaar Bill as a Money Bill.

“Under the Constitution, it is a settled position that Money Bill certified by the Speaker is beyond challenge,” Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi told a Bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur.

Advocate P Chidambaram, appearing for Ramesh, told the court that when there was a violation of rule of law, “locus is not the ground on which the petition can be thrown out.”

When the bench, also comprising R Banumathi and U U Lalit, wanted to know “if it (treating Aadhaar Bill as a Money Bill) is open to judicial review”, the attorney-general said there was no violation of fundamental right of Jairam Ramesh so the petition filed by him under Article 32 of the Constitution could not be entertained.

Chidambaram said there was a violation of the rule of law which formed the basic structure of the Constitution and as such the petition needed to be entertained. He said the Aadhaar Bill could not be treated as a Money Bill so the petition had been filed under Article 32.

The bench, which noted Chidambaram’s submission that it was a grave matter and needed proper hearing, posted the case for the third week of July.

The Congress has criticised the government’s attempt to “bypass parliamentary procedure” by introducing contentious Bills such as Money Bills, bypassing the Rajya Sabha, where the government lacks numerical strength.

Ramesh had challenged the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar (targeted delivery of financial and other subsidies, benefits, and services) Act, 2016. Terming it unconstitutional, Ramesh accused the government of bypassing the parliamentary process.

The Bill had been passed during the first half of the Budget session in March, overruling the changes moved in the Rajya Sabha. Declaring it a Money Bill, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rejected the Upper House’s five changes.

That the Congress’s move has irked the government was obvious when in the Rajya Sabha Jaitley attempted to squash the Congress’ objections to the passing of the Uttarakhand appropriation Bill.

“This is definitely a Money Bill and even Jairam cannot challenge this in court,” Jaitley said, making an oblique reference to Ramesh’s petition in the apex court.