Hailing the Supreme Court's Aadhaar verdict as "historic", Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said Wednesday the opposition Congress has cut "a very sorry figure" after the apex court upheld the core of national biometric ID programme, which has helped save Rs 90,000 crore every year by plugging leakages in welfare schemes.
Stating that he has not read the full judgement, Jaitley said his understanding of the verdict is that the Supreme Court has barred usage of 12-digit unique identification number by private entities like mobile phone firms in absence of a legislative backing for that.
"Section 57 (of the Aadhaar Act that has been struck down by the Supreme Court) says that there can be special enabling power to allow other entities or body corporate (to use Aadhaar). I can give you my information (about the judgement). That is not permissible unless it is backed up by law. That seems to be the spirit of the judgement," he said.
The Supreme Court while upholding the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar had struck down some of its provisions including its linking with bank accounts and mobile phones.
When asked about the requirement of Aadhaar-linking with bank accounts and mobile phones post judgement, Jaitley said the question was based on without full reading the judgement.
"So let us first read the judgement. There are 2-3 prohibited areas. Are they because they are totally prohibited or are they because they need legal backing. So my answer in general, the generic answer will depend on what is the rationale, for instance on these private entities, it needs to be backed by law. That's my understanding. I still have a detailed reading of the judgement to do.
"Therefore, the prohibited areas do not assume are perpetually prohibited they could be procedurally prohibited or they could be prohibited as such," he said.
His colleague and Law & IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the court has held that the purpose of issuing Aadhaar to all Indian citizens is legitimate and no surveillance is possible.
"It is a historic judgement and the whole concept of unique identity number that has been accepted after judicial review is an extremely welcome decision," Jaitley told a news conference here.
He said the court has also upheld that the Aadhaar legislation, which mandated assigning unique identification number of Indian citizens, was a Money Bill.
A money bill is to be approved by the Lok Sabha only and the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling combination did not enjoy majority when the Act was passed in March 2016, only returned it after discussion.
"You can always have fringe elements who are opposed to these ideas but you at least expect those in the mainstream to really accept changes that are taking place," he said.
To critics, he said "you cannot defy technology. You cannot ignore it."
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