Kolkata: Welcoming the Supreme Court verdict restricting the use of Aadhaar cards, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is presently in Milan, said: "It is a victory of the people of this country, and we are very happy."
Later, Banerjee tweeted: "From day one we have fought for this. Not linking #Aadhaar to mobile phones, bank accounts and others is a great relief for the common people. My best wishes to all."
"From the first day, I am against linking of Aadhaar with banks and mobile phones. There is information which the state government should preserve. We are not questioning that, but linking of Aadhaar with banks and cell phones cannot be supported as there is every possibility of the information being leaked out," she said, adding: "The Supreme Court judgment has confirmed today as true what I have been telling all these months."
She said Trinamool Congress MLA Mohua Moitra had filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court. "We read about bank fraud every day, and money is being withdrawn from ATMs, causing great trouble to the account holders. Today's judgment will put an end to these," she said.
"If Aadhaar is linked with mobile phones, your call and message records become public. This is uncalled for," said the Chief Minister. "Because of this I did not link my Aadhaar with my bank account and cell phone and also asked people not to do it," she added.
Meanwhile, party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien said: "Mamata Banerjee had issued an open challenge on Aadhaar. Our stance has been vindicated," and added: "I am glad the court said we need to take a closer look at data privacy and data protection... the BJP can't make it (India) into a police state." In a verdict with far-reaching consequences and described as balanced, the Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the constitutional validity of 'Aadhaar' but limited the scope of the controversial biometric identity project by quashing some provisions that made it mandatory for bank accounts, mobile connections or school admissions.
Holding there was nothing in the Aadhaar Act that violates right to privacy of an individual, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra in a 4 to 1 verdict also cleared the use of Aadhaar for welfare schemes after a long-drawn legal battle against the government's ambitious project- the world's largest biometric ID database.
The court, however, held Aadhaar would remain mandatory for the filing of Income Tax(IT) returns and allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN).
It struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 that permitted private entities like telecom companies or other corporates to avail of the biometric Aadhaar data.
Ruling that Aadhaar authentication data cannot be stored for more than six months, the court also directed the government not to give Aadhaar to illegal immigrants.
Justice D Y Chandrachud gave a dissenting judgement in which he ruled the Aadhaar Act should not have been passed as Money Bill as it amounts to a fraud on the Constitution and is liable to be struck down.