Sep 30, 2015 - J.Venkatesan| New Delhi
The Supreme Court will hear on October 6 a batch of applications filed by RBI, SEBI, states of Gujarat and Jharkhand seeking modification of the interim order restraining the authorities from insisting on Aadhaar card for availing benefits from the government.
A three-judge Bench of Justices J. Chelameswar, S.A. Bobde and C. Nagappan posted the applications for hearing after brief submissions from senior counsel Harish Salve and additional solicitor-general Tushar Mehta.
In its application, the Reserve Bank said the interim order should not prevent banks and financial institutions from accepting Aadhaar cards from persons who voluntarily submit the same for the purpose of proving their identity either in the absence of any other officially valid document or otherwise.
It also wants the court to clarify that the August order does not preclude the banks from verifying and accepting valid Aadhaar card as identification of customers in case so desired by the customer.
The Reserve Bank of India submitted that the order should not restrict banks/financial instituions, payment systems from verifying and accepting a valid Aadhaar card from willing customers wanting to avail banking/financial services and banks from seeding valid Aadhaar card numbers to bank accounts of customers for receiving government subsidy for other remittances.
“The banks and other FIs are required to know their customers before opening an account. This helps in preventing frauds. If the banks and FIs are required to stop using the Aadhaar car for these purposes, it would seriously retard the pace of financial inclusion for inclusive growth which is not in the interests of the poor people and the country at large,” the RBI’s application said.
In its plea SEBI said “ Aadhaar card can act as a single document for both proof of identity and addressd for an individual. It offers easy and simplified mode of completion of Know Your Client (KYC) requirements while on-boarding a client by any registered intermediary in terms of Prevention of Money Laundering norms. It can act as a tool for monitoring various transactions by individuals across financial markets and help in fraud detection.
Gujarat rejected the claim of right to privacy and said Aadhaar card enables benefits to the society at large, especially the marginalized and underprivileged sections of society.
In this entirely consensual process of accessing benefits from State and Central governments the question of individual’s right to privacy being affected or violated in any way does not arise.