Seeking personal details for passport, voter ID does not violate privacy: Centre tells SC

The Centre on Thursday again pointed out to the Supreme Court that the kind of data taken by the government in the form of personal details for passport and voter ID verification and clearance does not and will not violate an individual's privacy.

Presenting his arguments, Attorney General, K. K. Venugopal cited several international judgments regarding privacy to establish the Centre's stand on the issue.

Referring to the Aadhaar enrolment regulation matter, Venugopal revealed that there is protection regarding sharing of Aadhar data.

The apex court asked the Centre about data protection. Senior advocate Gopal Subramanian supported the issue stating that data protection is important and a very serious issue which can't be left out.

The nine-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Jagdish Singh Khehar, was hearing the arguments from various petitioners and respondents.

The remaining eight judges of the Constitution Bench of the apex court were Justices Rohinton Fali Nariman, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Abhay Manohar Sapre, D. Y. Chandrachud, S. Abdul Nazeer, S. A. Bobde, R. K. Agrarwal and J. Chelameshwar.

On June 10, the Supreme Court had ruled that from July 1 onward, every person eligible to obtain Aadhar card must quote their Aadhar number or their Aadhaar Enrolment ID number for filing of Income Tax Returns as well as for applications for Permanent Account Number (PAN).

Following this, the apex court pronounced its order on mandatory requirements of Aadhar card for Income Tax Return (I-TR).

The Income Tax Department has stepped up its efforts to encourage people to link their PAN with Aadhar.

On July 12, the top court decided to constitute a five-judge bench to hear whether there is a right to privacy or not.

The matter was mentioned before a bench comprising of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, which said that its five-judge Constitution Bench will hear Aadhar-related matters.