Note4students
Mains Paper 2: Polity | Structure, organization & functioning of the Executive & the Judiciary
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:
Prelims level: Aadhaar Act of 2016, Consolidated Fund of India, fundamental right to privacy
Mains level: Right to privacy and related issues
Relief to the common man
- The Supreme Court on March 13 indefinitely extended the deadline for linking Aadhaar with mobile phones, tatkal passports and for opening bank accounts
- The deadline will be extended from March 31, 2018, till the Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India pronounces its final verdict on the validity of the Aadhaar scheme
Deadline not extended for availing benefits
- March 31, 2018, continues to be the deadline for linking Aadhaar to subsidies, benefits and services prescribed under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act of 2016
- Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act says that the Centre and State governments can insist on Aadhaar for the purpose of establishing the identity of an individual as a condition for receipt of a subsidy, benefit or service for which the expenditure is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India
Right to privacy
- A nine-judge Constitution Bench on August 24, 2017, recognized and upheld privacy as a fundamental right and intertwined it with basic human dignity and right to life
- It is argued that the Aadhar scheme, which requires the parting of biometric and personal details, is a coercive step and a stark violation of the ordinary citizen’s fundamental right to privacy