The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with a July 21 order of the Madras high court staying the implementation of a membership drive scheme launched by the state government in which residents in the state were required to share their mobile numbers and respond by enrolling with a centralised database providing information about government schemes based on a one-time password (OTP) received on these numbers.
A bench of justices PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar refused to entertain the state’s appeal as it said, “We are not willing to interfere as the order passed is interim in nature.” Senior advocate P Wilson appearing for the state argued that the high court stayed the outreach scheme titled “Oraniyil Tamil Nadu” on the ground that collection of mobile numbers amounts to violation of privacy.
“If the court is applying this yardstick, then this is being done by other national parties as well. What the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) do, we are doing it,” Wilson said.
The bench said, “This argument does not justify not having scrutiny. They (similar schemes by other parties) are equally bad. If somebody challenges it, the matter will be heard.” Wilson, who is also a member of parliament, informed the court that the entire drive has come to a standstill with nearly 17 million members having enrolled with the drive.
The senior lawyer insisted the court entertain the appeal and consider the correctness of the HC order explaining that sharing of the mobile phone is only for the purpose of receiving OTP, similar to what is done while using a taxi service app such as Ola. He further stated that the petition before the HC has been filed by a functionary of the rival AIADMK party Rajkumar.
{{/usCountry}}The senior lawyer insisted the court entertain the appeal and consider the correctness of the HC order explaining that sharing of the mobile phone is only for the purpose of receiving OTP, similar to what is done while using a taxi service app such as Ola. He further stated that the petition before the HC has been filed by a functionary of the rival AIADMK party Rajkumar.
{{/usCountry}}Advocate Balaji Srinivasan appearing for Rajkumar told the court that the state has approached the high court challenging the interim stay and the same is listed on Tuesday.
The court asked the state whether it is keen to argue against the stay granted by the high court or on the maintainability of the petition in the high court. It said that the issue is sensitive and the court will always weigh in favour of protecting the citizens.