Aadhaar not panacea for all ills: Apex court

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday disputed the Centre's contention that Aadhaar was the panacea for all ills in the system, including bank frauds.

A five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra held, Aadhaar was not a solution.

It observed, 'Hundreds of crores of rupees bank frauds were allegedly done in connivance with bank officials by alleged fraudsters. How is Aadhaar secure? The lender knows whom it is giving loan and it is the bank officials who are hand-in-glove with the fraudsters. Aadhaar can do little to stop it.'

Justices Arjan Kumar Sikri, Ashok Bhushan, DY Chandrachud and A M Khanwilkar were also on the bench which heard arguments and submissions from petitioners and respondents.

Multiple appeals had been filed before the apex court challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar and the Centre's making it mandatory to link the 12-digit unique identification number with bank accounts, mobile phones and others.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, representing the Central government, submitted to the bench that adequate security measures had been adopted to ensure that data was not leaked out in any form from collection centers.

Through Aadhaar, the AG said, the Union of India was providing food, shelter and employment to those who lived on the fringes and Government had taken precautions that right to privacy was affected at the most minimal way.

The Supreme Court had ruled those downtrodden who need food and shelter also had a right to privacy which could not be violated by the state.