AMN
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the recent Supreme Court order on the Right to Privacy has laid down the correct exemptions, which protect Aadhar.
Responding to a question at Columbia University on how the government is planning to handle Aadhar after the recent verdict, Mr Jaitley said he believes that the Supreme Court verdict in accordance with the current timing is a correct judgement.
He said some of the judges also went into what would be the exceptions to the law of privacy. He said that the first exception the judges say is national security. The second exception is detection and prevention of crime and the third exception is distribution of socio-economic benefits.
The Minister said the third exception was carved out specifically to protect the Aadhar. Mr Jaitley also said that there is a chapter in the Aadhar law which deals with certain aspects like the manner in which data is to be protected and the consequences of violation. He said all those safeguard provisions have been brought into the law.
The apex court judgement has been interpreted by many as a setback to the Aadhar card, under which the government collects vital personal information of the citizens. In its judgement in August, the Supreme Court decreed that that right to privacy is part of the fundamental rights to life and liberty enshrined in the Constitution.
