Supreme Court judgment on Aadhaar leads to confusion in private sector
Hindustan TimesA day after the Supreme Court struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act that allowed sharing of Aadhaar data with private entities, companies don’t have clarity on what the ruling means for their business. Lawyers disagree Sanjay Hegde, a senior Supreme Court advocate, said private companies can’t restrict access to services without Aadhaar. But Jaideep Gupta, another senior advocate, said otherwise: “The section that permitted private companies to access Aadhaar data itself has been struck down and declared unconstitutional. So Aadhaar data can’t be given to private companies at all.” Consumer consent has no role to play in this transaction, he said, as “the judgement makes it impossible for the statutory authority [to give data to private companies.” Advocate Vipin Nair said there is considerable confusion in the domain.