Inform Supreme Court bout violation of its orders on
biometric aadhaar
before April 30
April 22, 2015: Questionable 12 digit biometric Unique
Identity (UID)/Aadhaar number CAN NOT be made mandatory for any government
service according to the attached Supreme Court orders of September 23, 2013,
November 26, 2013, March 24, 2014 and March 16, 2015. Supreme Court’s Three
Judge bench of Justices J. Chelameswar, S.A. Bobde and C.Nagappan expressing
dissatisfaction at defiance of court’s repeated orders. As per March 16, 2015
order "Pleadings (are) be completed before the end of April, 2015."
Notably, So far opposition parties have
failed to note that biometric aadhaar number is linked to
legislations on land Acquisition and land titling. It is
abundantly clear that the biometric aadhaar number case has become the litmus
test to demonstrate whether rule of law still exists in India or biometric
surveillance companies have subverted Indian legal and
political system for good.
In the current situation, it is the moral and political duty
of the genuine opposition parties to ensure that aadhaar is abandoned. It is
noteworthy that Section 10 and 36 of the Land Titling Bill is linked to
aadhaar. It has been disclosed in writing by the government that new land
acquisition law was meant to create a "perfect land market" and by
former Chairman of UIDAI that National ID will help create a common land
market, which he will have us believe reduce poverty.
If any citizen of India has been denied or being denied any
entitlement or government service because they don't have 12 digit biometric
Unique Identity (UID)/Aadhaar number, the Supreme Court must be informed about
it at their official postal address, fax and email:
supremecourt@nic.in (with a cc to pingbaghu@gmail.com,
1715krishna@gmail.com).
It must be noted that the message must mention, "For
the kind attention of Hon'ble Mr Justice Chelameswar and companion judges
hearing the matter regarding Aadhaar, in the matter of Writ Petition (Civil)
Nos. 833 of 2013 and 494 of 2012". The submissions need to be
made before 30 April.
The attached order of Chief Justice bench of Punjab &
Haryana High Court in CWP No.569 of 2013 dated March 2, 2013 established that
when the High Court raised questions of legality of aadhaar, the Union of India
withdrew the circular making aadhaar mandatory for acceptance of application for
registration of vehicle and learner/regular driving license. By implication
this is application this is relevant to all the departments and agencies which
are making aadhaar mandatory.
The fact is there is a compelling logic for abandoning the
biometric aadhaar project the way it has been done in UK, China, Australia,
France, USA and Philippines. UIDAI has been severely indicted by Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Finance in its report placed
before Parliament. The Standing Committee rejected the National
Identification Authority of India Bill which sought to legitimize UIDAI’s
illegal status post facto. It observed that while framing of relevant law is
under way, the continuance of the UID/Aadhaar project is “unethical and
violation of Parliament’s prerogatives”. The collection of biometric and
personal data and issuing of aadhaar/UID numbers do not have any statutory
sanction until the Bill is passed by
Parliament.
It is noteworthy that E.A.S.Sarma, former Secretary to
Government of India wrote to the Prime Minister saying, “Government's right to
collect information relating to individual citizens, unless necessitated by
national security considerations, arises from its role
as a trustee on behalf of the citizens. As such, the
relevant information has a great deal of sanctity attached to it. The
government holds such information in a purely fiduciary capacity. The citizen's
privacy cannot therefore be wantonly and irresponsibly violated by a fiat of
executive instructions initiated at the instance of individuals who are more
interested in inducting private agencies not accountable to the people and the
legislature, than upholding the public interest.”
Sarma added, “It is bizarre that the government should first
collect personal information from unsuspecting citizens as a trustee and then
surreptitiously pass on the ownership of such information to a private agency,
guided more by the profit motive than the public interest. It
is equally bizarre that the government should demote its own
role to that of a customer of the private company in seeking access to the
information base. All this amounts to a gross breach of the trust reposed by
the citizens in the government. The proposal becomes all
the more dubious in view of the monopolistic status sought
to be given to the private agency “owning” the citizens' information in its
hands. I feel that the proposal is an ominous one as it would involve an
outright handing over of the citizens' private information to a few private
agencies whose motives could never be gauged and who have no accountability to
the legislature. It is a proposal that should be rejected forthwith without any
hesitation.”
He concluded saying, “I get the uncomfortable feeling that
it forms part of a more dubious scheme being contemplated by your government.
If the government persists with this scheme, I will not hesitate to seek
judicial intervention in this matter."
Although belated in the aftermath of disclosures by
Wikileaks, Edward Snowden, Citizen Four, Grec Greenwald and the surveillance of
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose by MI 5 after independence, now that the fearful
ramifications are visible on the horizon, the question is who is stopping,
Non-Congress and Non-BJP ruled states from unsigning the Memorandum of
Understanding (MoUs) that they have signed with UIDAI.
It is noteworthy that one of the most successful examples of
implementation of biometric identification is Pakistan. What has improved in
Pakistan due to its implementation? Even sim cards in Pakistan is done based on
biometric identification. The current government is following the footprints of
an experiment which has been tried, tested and failed.
For Details: Gopal Krishna, Citizens Forum for Civil
Liberties (CFCL), Mb: 09818089660, 08227816731, E-mail: 1715krishna@gmail.com
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