Government plans to give Aadhaar legal weight

A day after questions were raised in the Supreme Court over the legality of the Aadhaar project, the government on Tuesday fast-tracked a draft bill to give legal backing to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) that issues the 12-digit number.

Updated on: Sep 25, 2013, 10:30:17 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

A day after questions were raised in the Supreme Court over the legality of the Aadhaar project, the government on Tuesday fast-tracked a draft bill to give legal backing to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) that issues the 12-digit number.

The court had said no person should be denied welfare benefits or services for not possessing the unique identification number in what is being seen as set back to the UPA’s showpiece direct transfer cash scheme in an election year.

The national identification authority of India draft bill seeks to address two major concerns raised by the petitioners as well as social activists: no legal backing for Aadhaar and violation of privacy of those enrolled. There is a provision of jail and fine — up to `1 crore — for any misuse of information or data theft.

A note seeking the cabinet’s nod to introduce the bill — which will give Aadhaar the legal backing — in Parliament was being circulated, a government official said.

“We have finalised the note covering all aspects,” the official said.

The bill, which is an improved version of the one that was rejected by a parliamentary panel in 2010, provides legal cover to the entire process right from the enrollment stage.

Enrolments are done by private agencies hired by state governments in consultation with UIDAI, which was set up through an executive order in 2009. These agencies directly feed in the demographic and biometric details into the UIDAI system.

Any unauthorised sharing of information would result in a jail term of up to three years and a fine, the official said. No personal information would be shared with any government agency unless authorised by a designated senior government official.

Data theft is to be punished with three-year jail term and a fine that can be as high as Rs. 1 crore.

After the cabinet’s nod, the bill would be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, Minister for planning Rajiv Shukla said. The Planning Commission, in-charge of UIDAI, expects the cabinet to take up the bill within a month.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.