New Delhi, September 26: The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the validity of the Aadhaar Act, at the same time declaring many of its provisions as unconstitutional.
A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra ruled that banks and telecom companies could not insist on the Aadhaar number.
Schools also couldn’t insist on Aadhaar number of a child, the apex court ruled.
The top court said the right to education is a fundamental right of every child in the age group of six to 14 and it couldn’t be subject to children submitting the Aadhaar number.
Maintaining that metadata could not be stored beyond six months, the Bench declared it as an unconstitutional provision that provided for storage of metadata for five years.
The main verdict was by written by Justice AK Sikri for himself, CJI and Justice AM Khanwikkar while Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan wrote separate verdicts.
Justice Chandrachud dissented with the main verdict saying the Aadhaar Act could not have been passed as a money Bill.
In his minority verdict, Justice Chandrachud termed it a fraud on the Constituion and debasement of the constitutional institution of Rajya Sabha to introduce and pass the Aadhaar Bill as a money bill.
The majority, however, upheld the passage of Aadhaar law as a money bill.
