SC seeks AG’s help on Ramesh’s plea on Aadhaar

The Supreme Court on Monday sought assistance of Attorney General on a plea of senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, challenging the decision to treat Aadhaar Bill as a money Bill, which was passed during Budget session last month, overruling amendments moved in Rajya Sabha.

“We will like to have the views of Attorney General (Mukul Rohtagi),” a Bench, headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur, said when senior advocate and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram sought issuance of notice on the plea of the Congress leader. Chidambaram said that treating the Aadhaar Bill as a money Bill was “unconstitutional”. The Bench has fixed next hearing on the matter to May 10. It, however, did not issue a notice on the plea of Ramesh. The Lok Sabha had on March 16 passed the Aadhaar Bill that aims at better targeting of subsidies through the Aadhaar unique identity.