Congress to move SC challenging Aadhaar Act as Money Bill

The Aadhaar Bill was passed during the Budget session in March 2016, overruling amendments moved in the Rajya Sabha.

The top court on Wednesday upheld the constitutional validity of Aadhaar, but put some restrictions, stating that linkage of the 12-digit unique identity number with mobile phones and bank accounts is not mandatory.

While addressing the media in Delhi,  senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said, “The passage of the law violates both the fundamental right to privacy and is a gross abuse of the Money Bill route.”

“One important part of judgement to be noted is — if in the future a Lok Sabha speaker declares a bill as Money Bill, then the court can review this and revert. We will approach a seven-judge bench to consider this verdict again as this is clearly not a Money Bill,” he added.

“If the government does not bring the Act to the Rajya Sabha for amendments, we will definitely move the Supreme Court,” Sibal said.

In 2016, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had moved the top court, challenging its decision to treat the then Aadhaar bill as a money bill. Armed with the Speaker’s decision that it was a money bill, the had government pushed it through the Rajya Sabha, which cannot amend it but only make recommendations for amendment to the Lok Sabha.

Once the Lok Sabha passes a money bill with or without amendments recommended by the Rajya Sabha, it is deemed to have been passed by both the Houses.

Following the judgement, the Congress, however, put up a tweet saying, "We welcome the Supreme Court's decision to strike down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act. Private entities are no longer allowed to use Aadhaar for verification purposes."