Aadhaar [Day-28]There Is No Surveillance Under The Aadhaar Scheme: Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi

As the hearing in the string of writ petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Aadhaar project resumed on Thursday, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta continued his submissions on the mandate of linking Aadhaar number with bank accounts under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002 and the Rules framed thereunder.Referring to sections 2 and 12. As the hearing in the string of writ petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Aadhaar project resumed on Thursday, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta continued his submissions on the mandate of linking Aadhaar number with bank accounts under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act of 2002 and the Rules framed thereunder. In respect of Rule 9 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Rules, dealing with client due diligence and requiring a client, being an individual, to submit their Aadhaar number and PAN therefor, Justice D. Y. Chandrachud asked the ASG to address the following concerns expressed by Senior Counsel Arvind Datar on behalf of the petitioners- That the PMLA Rules, framed under section 73 and of the Act of 2002, are ultra vires, in so far as the Act does not provide for rendering inoperational a validly opened bank account; That extension of the mandate of linkage to mutual funds and insurance policies is not envisaged under the Act Senior Counsel Shyam Diwan raised the issue of continuous verification. In response to the claim that the penal consequence of rendering a bank account inoperational is not envisaged under sections 12 and 15 of the Act of 2002, the ASG cited the 1966 judgment of the constitution bench of the apex court in State of Nagaland v. Ratan Singh, wherein the validity of the Rules for the Administration of Justice and Police in the Naga Hills District, 1937, laid down under the Scheduled Districts Act of 1874, was considered “Now that the law requires exposing of the identity of the beneficial owner of a bank account, I would not the touch the account at all.I would not verify with the Aadhaar number and the account would become non-operational.”, submitted Mr. Mehta.